Dear EcoNews,
I’ve been trying to reduce my carbon footprint by biking more, but I live in Eureka and work in Arcata and it doesn’t always feel safe riding on the “safety corridor.” What’s the deal with the half-finished trail along the Bay? Also, I keep hearing murmurings about the Bay to Zoo Trail in Eureka. Any word on when they might start work on that? It seems like there is movement toward building more trails in and around the Eureka, but it’s hard to keep track of the progress. Will we ever convert the old rail lines to trails that connect along the coast?
Patiently waiting…
Dear Patiently waiting,
People have wanted a safe non-motorized active transportation corridor between Eureka and Arcata for over twenty years. The Bay Trail North section was completed by the City of Arcata in 2017, and the final 4.25-mile County section, the Bay Trail South, will begin construction next year. It is looking to be completed by the end of 2022. When completed there will be 14 miles of safe contiguous trails that commuters, local recreation users, and tourists will enjoy around Humboldt Bay. The trails of the Humboldt Bay Trail between Eureka and Arcata are all built alongside the railbed as trails with rails. As the trails extend south to CR and Fortuna the railbed will be utilized for the trail and is known as rails to trails.
The Bay to Zoo Trail is a proposed project and is in development by the City of Eureka. It will connect the Waterfront Trail near Tydd Street traveling about three miles south to Sequoia Park utilizing the greenbelt and gulches adjacent to McFarlan Street until it enters the street and sidewalk near Russ and Dolbeer Street. At this time only preliminary design plans exist to establish the potential trail alignments. Those designs will aid in determining the scope of environmental studies and as an estimation for funding requests. View the current conceptual alignment on the project webpage: https://new.ci.eureka.ca.gov/depts/pw/bay_to_zoo_trail.asp
Please visit Humboldt Trail Council’s Facebook page to watch the 2021 Humboldt Trails Summit video. On June 5th the Summit presented an update on trails in our County and included Senator Mike McGuire speaking on the status of the Great Redwood Trail: facebook.com/humboldttrailscouncil/.
Thank you for your interest in trails.
Humboldt Trails Council at https://humtrails.org