By Town Crier Staff Report

A new portion of Peninsula trail will open to bicylists at the end of this month.

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Board of Directors voted unanimously to amend the district’s use and management plan for its Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve to designate the Bay Area Ridge Trail between Hawk Trail junction and Rapley Ranch Road as a multiuse trail.

The new trail designation will provide bicycle access to the remaining 1.4-mile section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail in the South Skyline region.

The trail opening is scheduled for April 28.

The decision to open the trail to bicycles comes less than a year after the board closed 13.6 miles of preserve trails to bicycle use after receiving complaints from hikers.

The bicycle ban at seven of the district’s 25 preserves was intended to provide a safe and enjoyable experience for all of the different users on the trail system, according to board members.

Many bicyclists protested the ban, accusing the board of segregating cyclists.

Part of the closure included a provision that would allow the board to consider exceptions to preserve closures or to open other trail sections to cycling use, where appropriate, to provide multiuse access to dedicated sections of the Bay Area Ridge Trail.

The Russian Ridge trail had previously been closed to cycling use, because the former owners of the property had stipulated in the purchase agreement that bicycles would not be allowed on the property adjacent to the property on which they resided as long as they lived there.

The property has now transferred owners; therefore, the bicycle restriction on the district’s adjacent property is no longer applicable.

This transfer of property ownership provided an opportunity for the district to pursue its commitment to opening Ridge Trail sections to multiple uses.

The Los Altos-based Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District includes more than 46,000 acres of open space extending from San Carlos to Los Gatos.