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Click here to view the event flier
On Saturday, May 7, 2005, six dedicated bicycling environmental professionals met at 9:30 a.m. at Bay Bikes on Cannery Row in Monterey, with their bikes at the ready and helmets on, for an 18-mile round trip bike ride to Marina. I made certain that each had also brought with them a healthy dose of professional curiosity about the environmental review of alternative transportation mode infrastructure, thus establishing that this wasn’t just any old Saturday ride.
We started off along the famous Monterey Recreation Trail, also known as the California Coastal Trail, weaving through the pedestrians and dog-walkers (our departure time coincided with the SPCA fund-raiser “Wag-n-Walk”). Our first stop on the ride was four miles later at the top of the ridge on the Sand Dunes Trail in Monterey. There, Michael McCormick, County District 5 representative on the county’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee – and the AEP Monterey chapter’s esteemed Director – was joined by Lisa Rheinheimer, Associate Transportation Planner with the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC), to discuss the plans for the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail project. This trail project will join up existing portions of trail to connect the Monterey Peninsula with Santa Cruz via a continuous, paved multi-user trail proximate to the coastline of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary. The vision of the project is to create a safe and continuous north-south bicycle and pedestrian route with spur trails leading to and from points of interest. Congressman Sam Farr recently succeeded in securing $6 million in federal funding towards this recreation trail/ transportation corridor project.
Nine miles into the ride, we arrived at the Fifth Street railroad underpass in Marina, where we stopped at the confluence of the trail and the railroad tracks. There, I presented the Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s rail program. TAMC recently purchased the length of railroad tracks known as the Monterey Branch Line, which stretches from Castroville south to the Peninsula. The project is now undergoing an alternatives analysis to determine the best use of the rail line, whether it might be long-distance passenger rail, local light rail, bus rapid transit (busses traveling on separated corridors), or a combination of the above. TAMC is also pursuing the extension of Caltrain commuter rail service from its current terminus in Gilroy to Pajaro, Castroville and Salinas. This service would benefit commuters that travel northward in the morning and back south to Monterey County in the evenings and provide a transportation alternative for those seeking access to health care or entertainment in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more on these and other transportation projects, go to www.tamcmonterey.org or contact me at Christina@tamcmonterey.org.
Following our successful return to the peninsula, we snapped some photographs and enjoyed lunch at the London Bridge Pub on the commercial wharf. Finally, we rounded out the day at Taste of Monterey to enjoy this region’s rich variety of grapes as demonstrated by the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association.
Christina Watson
Transportation Agency for Monterey County
Photo Credit: Christina Watson, TAMC |
Photo Credit: Christina Watson, TAMC |
Official logo, Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail |
Photo credit: Jeff Morgan, TAMC |
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