Popular Hiking Trail Will Be Closed During Construction

Diehard hikers and bicyclists have taken their share of risks to enjoy the views from a crumbling trail along the Carquinez Shoreline.

That trail is expected to be closed to all traffic until late 2014 to 2015 while crews work on restoring the trail. Crews on Wednesday closed off both ends of the trail to start construction of a 1.7-mile Martinez Intermodal project to the Crockett segment of the San Francisco Bay Trail.

“This project has been decades in the making,” said East Bay regional Park District General Manager Robert E. Doyle. “When completed, it will be one of the most scenic trails in the region, with sweeping views of the Carquinez strait, and a way to access parkland in the Martinez, Briones, Crockett and Rodeo areas.”  

When complete, the San Francisco Bay Trail will be a continuous 500-mile recreational corridor that will connect the entire Bay Area, linking the shorelines of all nine counties in the Bay Area and 47 of its cities. To date, 310 miles of the Bay Trail, or more than 60 percent of its ultimate length, have been developed, much of it through East Bay Regional Parks.

The Carquinez Shoreline Drive trail has suffered from erosion, crumbling embankments and landslides, making it hazardous.

The $5.6 million construction project will include stabilization of embankments and cut slopes with retaining walls and debris walls; installation of new and repair of existing drainage systems; and rehabilitation and construction of the old roadway to a multi-use, Class I bicycle/pedestrian trail.

There will be a break in construction during the wet winter months between October 2013 and April 2014, but the area will remain closed to public use.

Carquinez Shoreline Drive was a county road that was closed in the 1980s after landslides severely damaged it. The East Bay Regional Parks District has been in negotiations with Contra Costa County for the past decade to convert the road back to a trail, with an estimated cost of $7.4 million. 

The trail easement was acquired from Contra Costa County in December 2012. Project funding includes federal funds from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant and SAFETEA-LU, State Coastal Conservancy, Contra Costa Transportation Authority Measure J and the Park District’s Measure WW Development funds.