Presentations on Light Rail and Bus Transit
The County Regional Transportation Commission is coordinating the construction of a bicycle and pedestrian trail alongside the railroad tracks. Segments of this trail in Santa Cruz and Watsonville will be completed within two years. In most segments, the trail will be at least 12 feet wide-compared to the 8 feet wide trail through Arana Gulch
There is a “Trail — Only” group that wants to pull out the tracks in order to have an even wider “world-class” trail and “beautiful linear park.”
This may be a lovely vision, but it would come at the expense of the transportation needs of our County’s residents. The rail corridor offers great potential as a route for bus or rail vehicles that wouldn’t get stuck in auto traffic. Commuters, students, shoppers and tourists would have an option besides auto travel on the congested Highway 1 and city streets.
The backers of the Trail-Only option have purchased expensive full-page ads in the local media in order to sway public opinion to pull out the tracks. If they succeed, there will be no bus or rail transit on the corridor for a generation or more. That won’t get us any closer to our goals for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable transportation.
That’s why Bike Santa Cruz County, Ecology Action, Sierra Club Santa Cruz County, the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and Friends of the Rail and Trail want to preserve the option for public transit alongside a beautiful bike and pedestrian trail.
•••
The Campaign for Sensible Transportation: sensibletransportation.org