Bishop Public Works Director David Grah is looking for input on proposed bike paths and bicycle improvement projects in town. The City of Bishop, working with Inyo County, and the Bishop Paiute Tribe, are working on a plan for the best routes for bike travel.

The idea is to possibly build connecting bike paths in some areas, put better signage in others, and widen the shoulders of some roads to give cyclists more room.

The bike plan isnt completed yet, but Grah has put the document on display anyway looking for tips from the public. Many of the ideas are simply formal versions of trails that people have already stamped out with their feet over the years.

One proposal is to pave the trail that runs from Diaz Lane to the Elementary School. People already use this trail to get to the school. The plan proposes pavement and a different connection at the school.

A trail from the end of Keough and Hobson, across the vacant DWP land, could connect up with Coats, the street that leads to the fairgrounds. Further connections from North Second Street and East Elm to the City Park are also in the proposed plan.

Part of the proposal calls for pavement on the canal roads that people already drive, ride, or walk in the evenings.

With public projects like the bike plan or street improvements, Grah explained that its better to hear from the public early on in the process while there is still time to possibly make changes, so he put a copy of the proposed bike path plan on the front desk of the Bishop Public Works Department and also on the City of Bishop website. There is no formal comment deadline, but Grah said that he hoped to have the best plan possible before the deadline for state funding in December.