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Bridge will connect Escondido transit center to shopping plaza

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A pedestrian and bicycle bridge that will connect the Escondido Transit Center with the Barnes & Noble shopping center just to the west will likely be built in the next few years.

The San Diego Association of Governments has awarded Escondido a $1.27 million grant to build the bridge over the Spruce Street Creek and to construct bike lanes between Tulip and Quince Street.

The project is one of 29 grants being funded for projects around the county as part of SANDAG’s TransNet Smart Growth Incentive Program and Active Transportation grant program.

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The grant will fund the entire project, said Julie Procopio, the city’s assistant public works director. It should take about 18 months to design and another two years to build making completion likely in late 2018 or early 2019.

“Adjacent to the transit center is a shopping center that includes the Roma Italian market, a Barnes & Noble and several other businesses that could really link well to the transit center,” Procopio said.

“I’m excited about it. It’s a great project.”

She said right now people have to dangerously walk along Valley Parkway to get to the shopping area.

“We want to open the front door to the transit center,” she said. “Right now it’s choked with invasive plants and there’s very little place for pedestrians to get through and there are no bicycle lanes.”

A second grant in the amount of $335,000 also awarded to the city under the same program will pay for a pedestrian traffic signal to be constructed on El Norte Parkway where the Escondido Creek Trail crosses a quarter mile west of E. Valley Parkway.

The trail pretty much allows bicyclists to ride from one side of the city to the other.

“At that location bicyclists that are riding right alongside the creek will be able to push the call signal and traffic will stop so they can safely cross El Norte Parkway,” she said.

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