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Your Stories Investigation: Cars keep crashing into fence along SR-56 bike path

There is a renewed call for protective barriers along the State Route 56 bike path where, in some sections, only a chain-link fence separates bike riders from freeway traffic.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (NEWS 8) -- There is a renewed call for protective barriers along the State Route 56 bike path where, in some sections, only a chain-link fence separates bike riders from freeway traffic.

Recent photos taken along highway 56 bike path show numerous sections of damaged fencing caused by collisions.

In 2011, a bicyclist was killed along SR-56 when a vehicle rolled off the highway and into the bike path.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has long-term plans to add an extra traffic lane in both directions to SR-56, but those plans do not include additional barriers to protect bicyclists along the entire bike path.

Some bicyclists worry it's only a matter time before somebody else gets killed.  Others said they don’t give it a second thought.

“I feel very safe here.  I'm not concerned,” one bicyclist told News 8.

The ten-mile bike path runs on the south side of SR-56 between Carmel Valley and Rancho Penasquitos.

News 8 obtained recent photos taken along the path that show skid marks through ice plant and collapsed fencing.

“There was a wreck up here the other day that punched a big hole through the fence and there was shattered glass all over the path,” said one bicyclist.

Another photo shows Caltrans workers repairing damage to the fence caused by a car accident.

One safety advocate told News 8 the fence gives users a false sense of security.

“There are a lot of children, a lot of joggers, a lot of family members that live in this community that use this bike path everyday assuming it's safe,” said Dan Valentine, who’s been riding the SR-56 bike path for more than a decade..

“There were three separate incidents along a five-mile stretch off this bike path that I witnessed about two months ago,” said Valentine.

Back in 2013, Valentine snapped a photo showing where a vehicle landed in the middle of the bike path.  Luckily nobody was hurt in that incident.

But people have been injured and killed.

“A guy died up here.  There's a cross on the bike trail where a car rode up the hill and killed him,” said one bike path user.

The victim killed in 2011 was 40-year-old Nick Venuto, a husband and father of two children.

His widow filed a lawsuit against Caltrans claiming the agency should have installed barriers along SR-56 to protect people using the bike path.

A San Diego judge dismissed the lawsuit after Caltrans successfully argued the barriers were not required.

Caltrans declined to be interviewed for this report.  Instead, a spokesperson issued the following written statement to News 8:

Based on a review in June 2013 of the existing bike path, Caltrans agreed to install a barrier on eastbound State Route 56 (SR-56) in areas where the bike path is less than 30 feet from the edge of the highway lanes.  Barriers were installed at three locations in August 2014.

Caltrans monitors and tracks incidents along all Caltrans highways, freeways and bikeways.  The information collected is analyzed to determine whether a safety investigation is needed.

The agency said those three barriers were constructed on eastbound SR-56; 1.4 miles east of the Carmel Valley Road interchange, 2.4 miles east of the Carmel Valley Road interchange, and a half mile west of the Camino Del Sur off ramp.

Still, while planning is underway to add extra lanes to SR-56, Valentine believes the time is right to add barriers along the entire bike path.

“I don't believe it's a big complicated issue.  I know they have engineers that can solve this issue and I ask them if they could please consider public safety.

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