County to review trails program evaluation

Trails system assessment required by law

The Inyo County Board of Supervisors at its meeting this morning is scheduled to conduct a public hearing to take public comment on the combined-use pilot project, also known as the Eastern Sierra Adventure Trails System Project, according to the meeting’s agenda.

Inyo County in 2015 approved the designation of seven combined-use routes to allow certain non-street legal vehicles to be able to drive on county roads to access goods and services and existing offhighway vehicle recreation facilities.

The seven routes were opened for combined-use vehicles between July

2015 and September 2017.

The program was modeled after a trail system in southwestern Utah that links several small communities. A goal was to do the same here in Inyo County and to link the communities of Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine, and Bishop.

Ultimately, the intent to link multiple communities was not fully realized, partly due to the land ownership patterns and the prevalence of LADWP land on the valley floor.

Though the goal to link combined use routes to businesses and communities between multiple communities was not achieved, it does allow for linkages from the existing communities to federally managed lands in the foothills and the mountains on both sides of the valley, the draft evaluation reports.

According to county staff, the seven routes that were opened for combined-use were designated per the state’s Vehicle Code Assembly Bill 628, and extended by Senate

Bill 1345. SB 402 authorized the project to extend until Jan. 1, 2025, unless extended a third time.

Staff notes that it has prepared an evaluation report of the project pursuant to state SB 402, which sets forth the requirements for the combined-use pilot program: Vehicle Code section 38026.1(f) requires that no later than January 1, 2024:

“… County of Inyo, in consultation with the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Parks and Recreation, shall prepare and submit to the Legislature a report evaluating the pilot project, and containing both of the following:

(1) A description of the road segments designated to allow combined use for over three miles, as approved or adopted by a majority vote of the members of the Inyo County Board of Supervisors.

(2) An evaluation of the overall safety and effectiveness of the pilot project, including its impact on traffic flows, safety, off-highway vehicle usage on existing trails, incursions into areas not designated for offhighway vehicle usage, and nonmotor