santacruztrail.org

Santa Cruz County Rail & Trail: Let’s Build It!

Dave — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:04:10 +0000

Rail & Trail Within the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network

Now that the Santa Cruz Branch Line is publicly owned (by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission), students, commuters, and visitors are eager for a rail trail and passenger rail service in the coastal rail corridor.

The proposed Coastal Rail Trail will be a paved, multi-use path set within the 32-mile coastal rail corridor, spanning Santa Cruz County from Davenport to Watsonville and form an important part of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network. It will provide a scenic, car-free, and convenient path for walking, biking, and wheelchair use — just about any form of active travel by people of all ages. The trail will be adjacent to and separated from train service to maximize sustainable transportation in this corridor.

Who is FORT?

Santa Cruz Friends of the Rail & Trail (FORT) is the community voice for building the 32-mile Coastal Rail Trail. We have advocated for over a decade for public acquisition of the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line, and now that the purchase is complete, FORT is working to support the timely construction of the trail. FORT is a community-based group that is fiscally sponsored by Ecology Action, and can accept tax-deductible contributions support our work.

A Coastal Rail Trail Will Connect Our Communities

The Coastal Rail Trail will be a public asset that will improve the quality of life for Santa Cruz County residents and visitors alike. The Trail runs within one mile of 42 local schools, 88 parks and 50% of our county’s population, connecting many key destinations. Separate from car traffic and nearly level, the Trail will provide an accessible way for residents and visitors alike to enjoy the Monterey Bay. By giving people a safe, attractive and fun place to walk and bike, we will improve community health, boost our local economy, and enhance our environment. The Coastal Rail Trail will make our county a more sustainable and livable community.

The Coastal Rail Trail: let’s build it!

SCCRTC Submits $21M Grant Proposal for the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network

Kira — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:39:29 +0000

The SCCRTC has submitted a $21M grant proposal to the Federal Lands Access Program to build 15 miles of bicycle and pedestrian projects on the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network/rail trail.

Below is an excerpt from the RTC website (http://sccrtc.org/news/monterey-bay-sanctuary-scenic-trail-network-21m-grant-submitted/).

“In partnership with the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, and the US Bureau of Land Management, the RTC submitted a $21M grant application to the Federal Lands Access Program to build 15 miles of bicycle and pedestrian projects on the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network/rail trail. The trail is an excellent candidate for the grant program since it will provide active transportation, recreation and eco-tourism – all goals that the grant program emphasizes. The grant submitted was for construction of trail segments from Davenport to the Santa Cruz Wharf, due to their proximity and access to the California Coastal National Monument. The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County committed to providing $2.8M in matching funds.

The RTC will be notified in June if the project made the short list. Final awards will be announced in August. Watch this excellent video produced to accompany the grant by volunteers Eric Thiermann of TheImpactMediaGroup.com and Paul Schoellhamer.”

Paul Schoellhamer: Keep the rail trail on track

Kira — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:12:03 +0000

As printed in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on March 29th, 2013. To access the original article, please click here.

Paul Schoellhamer

Think tearing up the tracks would get the rail trail built sooner? Think again. Tearing up the tracks would devastate our chances of getting the rail trail built in our lifetimes.

Much of the funding to build the rail trail will come from the California Transportation Commission, which also provided the state funding for local purchase of the rail line and for rehab of the rail trestles. That state funding provided to our county by the CTC was by law for rail purposes, and the only way we got that money was by committing to operate some level of rail service. If we now tear up the tracks and go to the CTC and say we’d like other funds to build the trail, they are likely to find other projects in the state more worthy of their commitment. It will be extremely difficult to get the rail trail built without funding from the CTC.

Keep in mind as well that a majority of all funding received by our local Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) for transportation projects anywhere in our county is allocated to us by the CTC and can be allocated to other parts of the state. In fact, in the past few years it has been a very substantial majority.

Our local RTC is the countywide entity that now owns the rail line thanks to the CTC and has quite rightly put the rail trail on the fast track (so to speak). Within a couple of months of acquiring the line they made public a draft master plan for a trail along the entire length of the rail line, from the Pajaro River to beyond Davenport. Separated from car traffic and very nearly level, it will be incredibly popular with residents and tourists alike. Public response has been overwhelmingly favorable.

In contrast, any consideration of significantly expanding passenger rail service is on a much more deliberate track. RTC is just beginning to analyze future rail options. For now and the foreseeable future we meet our rail obligations to the CTC with occasional freight service and occasional recreational service. Any decision to do significantly more than that is many years away, a time period in which RTC will study options, make information available to the public, and provide for a thorough public discussion of options. For those who want to argue for or against increased rail service, that’s the time and place to do so. And there will be lots of time for those arguments.

If we were to now put that long-term rail decision ahead of building the trail, that would take the trail off the fast track and put it behind the train on the slow track. The RTC has it right by saying we should build the trail first and then consider over a much longer term whether we want to increase rail service or not. Who knows, our decision on the rail question may hang on how much gasoline costs years from now, not something we have any way of knowing today.

So let’s not hold the rail trail hostage to endless debates about the long-term future of rail. Let’s get to work now on building the rail trail as proposed in the draft master plan, and we’ll have years to discuss and decide what level of rail service is appropriate to our community in the long term. First things first.

________________________________________________________________________

Paul Schoellhamer is a retired congressional staffer specializing in transportation and environment issues, and is now on the Board of Friends of the Rail & Trail.

Support FORT at the Following Community Events!

Kira — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:58:33 +0000

Buy a Beer, Donate to FORT at the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery on March 21st
Stop by the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery on Thursday, March 21st, 2013 for Thank You Thursday. $1 from each drink sold will be donated to FORT.

Location: SC Mountain Brewery, 402 Ingalls Street #27
Time: 12pm – 10pm

FORT Heads to the Games for “Clean Air Night” on March 25th
Join FORT as we head to the games. The Santa Cruz Warriors Basketball Team will be sponsoring a “Clean Air Warriors Night” and FORT has been invited to host a booth. Stop by the game and learn more about how FORT is working to accelerate the implementation of a 32-mile trail along the newly acquired coastal rail corridor from Davenport to Watsonville.

Location: Kaiser Permanente Arena
Time: 6:30pm Tip-Off
Tickets: Starting at $15.00 (available at www.ticketreturn.com).

Rail Corridor Ribbon Cutting on 11/17/12

Dave — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 00:31:03 +0000

Join your family, friends, and neighbors for a ribbon cutting party on November 17, 2012, with whistle stops throughout the community commemorating this newly acquired transportation asset. The 32-mile rail corridor now belongs to the people of Santa Cruz County and offers a huge range of mobility options and opportunities. Learn more

CTC Approves Purchase

Dave — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 15:22:07 +0000

In January 2011, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) approved a request from the SCC RTC to purchase the SCC coastal rail line from Union Pacific Railroad. Now we’re simply waiting for the “deal to close” and the line to come into public ownership now that all major stakeholders have approved the $14.5 million purchase.

When the line comes into public ownership we can begin working with the RTC and local jurisdictions to build segments of a rail trail, ultimately spanning the entire 32 miles from Davenport to Watsonville. We’ll also look forward to passenger rail service that helps local commuters as well as State-wide travel by connecting to high speed rail at Gilroy (Prop 1A).

We’re gearing up to raise the money, organize the community, and ultimately support the SCC RTC in building the rail trail! We invite your participation.

FORT and EA fiscal sponsorship agreement finalized

Dave — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:30:28 +0000

FORT Board President Bruce Sawhill Signs Agreement with EcoAct

Santa Cruz Friends of the Rail & Trail (FORT) fulfilled one of its organizational development goals by formalizing its relationship with Ecology Action (EA). The two groups, one a well established 501©3 non-profit and the other an unincorporated association (what the state of California calls community groups who don’t file papers to become a non-profit organization) have been working collaboratively for several years. On May 16, 2012 Ecology Action’s Board of Directors voted to become the fiscal sponsor of FORT, providing organizational, administrative and staff structure and support to better help the rail and trail group realize its goals.

Friends of the Rail and Trail will retain its independent identity and be formally connected to EA. The fiscal sponsorship is intended to assist FORT in bringing in more management board members, partners and members as public ownership of the 32-mile coastal rail corridor should take place this calendar year. In the upcoming months FORT will be organizing a rail corridor purchase celebration in coordination with the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) who is the lead agency and rail authority for the corridor; providing input and promoting the RTC’s Monterey Bay Scenic Sanctuary Trail Master Planning process which includes the coastal rail trail; and continuing to promote the many benefits of this legacy project for Santa Cruz County.

Click here to read more about FORT’s organizational development plan. For more information regarding Ecology Action visit: http://ecoact.org/

Transportation Cafe Provides Scenic Trail Updates

Dave — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:29:56 +0000

Hosted by RTC Director George Dondero, the Transportation Cafe is a Community Television program that provides information about the Monterey Bay Scenic Trail. It is expected that the coastal rail trail will run within the Monterey Bay Scenic Trail. You can watch recent episodes by following this link.

Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail

Dave — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:26:49 +0000

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is leading the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network Master Planning process

Friends of the Rail & Trail, in collaboration with People Power and Ecology Action, supports the Rail Trail as the centerpiece of Santa Cruz County’s portion of the MBSST. The Rail Trail will be contiguous to the rail line, or, in locations where the rail right-of-way is too narrow, located on nearby adjacent routes with safe, direct and easy-to-find connections leading to and from the Rail Trail.

The coastal rail corridor will include a rail trail that enables all forms of active transportation (walking, bicycling, wheelchairs, skating, jogging, and rollerblading) together with freight and passenger rail transit service. The rail trail will be contiguous to the rail line, or, in locations where the rail right-of-way is too narrow, located on nearby adjacent routes with safe, direct and easy-to-find connections leading to and from the rail trail. The rail trail will be the centerpiece of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail System.

We are confident that most of the rail corridor is viable for both rail and trail due to a study performed by Mesiti Miller Engineering that provided the following information:

Survey Source: Mesiti Miller Engineering, 2002

“Based on the above analysis, it is our opinion that building a 32 mile rails with trails facility on the UP Right of Way is feasable based on the width of the available corridor, excepting a few short segments diverted to public streets.” Mesiti Miller Engineering.

The RTC is in the process of performing a more in-depth study of the rail corridor prior to creating an engineering plan for the trail.

Learn more about minimum corridor widths for rail and trail, as defined by Alta Planning.

New Organizational Strategy for FORT

Dave — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:48:28 +0000

In October, 2011, The Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail & Trail (FORT) completed an organizational development process that resulted in a new organizational strategy document and new fiscal sponsorship arrangement. You can learn more about FORT, our vision, mission, and strategic objectives by clicking here.