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PHOTO (LEFT):
This
walkway through
San Francisco’s
historic Fort
Mason area, a
popular link in
the San Francisco
Bay Trail, features
stellar city vistas
as it approaches
Crissy Field
and the Golden
Gate National
Recreation Area.
PHOTO (BELOW):
The developing
San Francisco
Bay Trail passes
by Alameda
Point, where
the
USS Hornet
aircraft carrier
now serves as
a permanent
museum.
TRAIL FACTS
Long-Term Commitment:
Work on the Bay Trail has been
underway for nearly 30 years—dating back to 1987 when
then-State Senator Bill Lockyer authored a bill, later
passed into California law, calling for planning to begin
on the Bay Trail.
Massive Mileage:
Envisioned to one day encompass 500
miles of walking and biking paths, the route currently
consists of 350 miles of completed trail.
Interconnectivity:
The Bay Trail will link the shorelines of
nine counties and 47 cities.
Recreational Link:
The trail connects 130 parks, 57,000
acres of open space, five state parks, two national parks
and two national wildlife refuges.
Population Hub:
More than 2.7 million Bay Area
residents live within 2 miles of the Bay Trail. That’s 38
percent of the metropolitan area’s 7 million people.
Employment Center:
1.6 million jobs—upwards of 50
percent of the jobs in the Bay Area—are located within 2
miles of the Bay Trail.
Shipping King:
The Bay Trail passes by the site of the
Richmond Kaiser Shipyards, where 747 ships were built
during the World War II effort in the 1940s.
•
District and private development projects. Today, the
community boasts 32 miles of completed Bay Trail—
more than any other Bay Area community.
Richmond’s repertoire includes the scenic and historic
Ferry Point Loop and Shipyard 3 Trail, a stretch that
takes in Kaiser Shipyard 3; Richmond’s four Kaiser
shipyards built a total of 747 ships during the World War
II era. The site currently houses the 1944-vintage
SS Red
Oak Victory
, a relic of Richmond’s shipbuilding past.
A Work in Progress
The Richmond story serves to illustrate the long-term
efforts that have gone into the success of the Bay Trail.
Born in the California State Legislature in the 1980s with
a bill authored by then-Senator Bill Lockyer, the idea has
persevered for nearly 30 years, with passionate trail and
coastal-access advocates driving the process.
Thompson has been on the front lines for more than
a decade and a half, working with the Association of Bay
Area Governments since 1999 and serving as the Bay
Trail project manager since 2004.
Early on, a $7.5 million grant from the Coastal Conser-
vancy, a state agency, “jump-started” the effort, Thomp-
son says, and the project has since received a total of
more than $20 million in similar grant money. “We’ve
been able to leverage those funds.”
Over the years, hundreds of millions of dollars have
gone into the trail, and Thompson estimates that the re-
maining 150 miles will cost upwards of $150 million more.
ALL PHOTOS: CINDY BARKS
WINTER 2017 RAILS TO TRAILS
17
U N I F Y I N G T H E B A Y