Municipality of Rincón

Honorable Carlos López Bonilla Alcalde

PO Box 97 Rincon, PR 00677

Fax: 787-823-3240

Email:

PR Department of Transportation (DTOP)

Ing. Carlos González Miranda

Secretary & Executive Director

Centro Gubernamental Minillas

PO Box 42007 San Juan, PR 00940-2007

Fax: 787-725-1620

Email:

Federal Highway Administration

Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands Division Office

Roberto Fonseca

Acting Division Administrator Federal Highway Administration

350 Ave Carlos Chardon Suite 210

San Juan PR 00918-2148

Fax: (787) 766-5924

Email:

Dear Sirs,

My name is and I am a frequent visitor to Rincón. I visit Rincón because I am attracted to its wonderful beaches and great natural beauty. When I first heard of plans for a bike path for the town I was very much in favor of such a project, assuming (as everyone did) that it would serve as a complement to the existing resources. Now that I am aware of details of the proposed plans I feel they contain many serious flaws that would actually limit my future enjoyment of this area. These flaws include:

  • Building a 3.65m wide paved path is essentially a road, not a trail.
  • Excessive use of fencing, bridges, elevated walkways, guardrails and other impediments on both sides of the route, will block access to many of our most popular beaches.
  • The use of seawalls and gabions where the path is routed along the maritime zone will result in the loss of the beach. Gabions, which fail when exposed to seawater, will create a hazard to beach goers.Our own public beach (Rincón’s Balneario) is already closed for swimming due to the failure of the gabions there.
  • Routing the path immediately adjacent to the Reserva Marina Tres Palmas, where excessive construction and the associated damage done by heavy machinery, sediment run-off and changes in the natural drainage patterns will adversely affect the local ecology. The Reserve contains rare or threatened species protected under the Endangered Species Act, including Elkhorn coral and sea turtles. The proposed trail seems contrary both to logic and law in this case.

For these reasons alone I suggest the plans as proposed should be discarded and a new design should be created based on more citizen participation and public hearings. The new plans should incorporate a design with a narrower path and less intensive engineering, which is set well back from the maritime zone by using the old railroad right-of-way. The more modest scale of such a design would result in a bike path that complements the natural resources of this area, and is not in competition with them.

Respectfully,