If your city leaders are adding paths in the woods that are only “open” from dawn to dusk, they have just spent thousands of tax dollars on a purely recreational amenity that cannot be considered part of your city’s transportation network.
Case in point: it is currently dark when bike commuters and children-on-bikes go to work and school, and it is dark when the workers return home. What’s needed — lighting, security, and other enhancements to make these paths usable by all, at all times, or (my preference) protected access-for-all on the roads that people actually use to get places.
Traveling at the Speed of Bike 