Issues regarding the Santa Cruz County Rail Corridor

The Santa Cruz County Rail Corridor is Underused

Santa Cruz County is remarkably fortunate to have an operational rail line that runs for 32 miles along the coast from Watsonville (where it connects with the main line and Amtrak) to Davenport. Currently used only for freight trains that serve the Davenport cement plant three or four days each week, it has the potential to facilitate travel for large numbers of individuals, and to provide much needed alternatives to the use of the private automobile for both local and regional trips. The image at the right shows this rail line not far from the Bayview Hotel in Aptos. Further information is available from Friends of the Rail Trail.

The line passes through three of our four cities (Watsonville, Capitola and Santa Cruz), in addition to other unincorporated communities such as La Selva Beach, Rio Del Mar, Aptos, Live Oak and Davenport. It also passes through or near several state parks and beaches—Manresa, Seacliff, New Brighton, Twin Lakes, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Natural Bridges, Wilder Ranch, and the newly acquired Coast Dairies property.

Furthermore, it connects with the rail line that extends north up the San Lorenzo River to Henry Cowell State Park and Felton. To the south, it provides the potential for trips around Monterey Bay to Marina, Seaside and Monterey.

Negotions with Union Pacific are in process

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is now engaged in negotiations to acquire the corridor from Union Pacific, who are apparently willing sellers. Funding sources amount to nearly $23 million, including a $11 million allocation from the passage of Proposition 116, $10 million from STIP (State Transportation Improvement Program) funds, and a $1.5 million Federal Earmark. Details may be found on page 20 of this document, which is the project list for our Regional Transportation Improvement Program (RTIP).

Public acquisition of the corridor would also enable the construction of a rail trail—a path adjacent to the rail tracks—for the use of pedestrians and bicyclists. Such a path would attract both recreational and commuter use. This proposed project that has broad community support.

There are numerous examples of successful Rails-With-Trails

There are many examples of Rails-With-Trails (RWTs) that have been constructed elsewhere and enjoy broad popular support. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy now lists over 90 existing Rails-With-Trails in the US, up from 61 only a few years ago. Many RWTs exist in quite narrow corridors (like our own).

Among those recently constructed are RWTs in Portland, Oregon, Madison, Wisconsin, and Victoria and White Rock in British Columbia. At the left is an image of the Springwater Corridor Trail in Portland. (The barrier between the rails and the path could be more attractive.)

Some existing rail trails exist in narrow rights-of-way. The image at the right shows a popular path in downtown White Rock, near Vancouver, British Columbia, where the path is within a busy freight corridor. In some sections, rail and trail are separated by gravel buffers or landscaping only.

Additional images of successful RWTs may be found here.

Of particular interest is a collection of images (more of which are displayed here in a nice slide show format), showing the E&N (Esquimalt & Nanaimo) Rail Line in Victoria, BC, which received $11.3 million in funding in August, 2007 from the Canadian government for the construction of a Rail-with-Trail within this narrow active rail corridor.

In some sections (such as shown in this image of the E&N rail line in Victoria) the corridor is already in regular use by bicyclists and pedestrians. This new trail is expected to be completed in time for the Olympic Games in 2010. In many respects, this project is similar to our own proposal for the Santa Cruz Branch Line, so it's worth tracking.