The California Coastal Conservancy Board on Thursday approved $3.4 million for construction of a portion of the Santa Ana River Trail in San Bernardino County.
Once completed, the Santa Ana River Trail will be about 100 miles long and will connect the Inland Empire from the crest of the San Bernardino Mountains to the Pacific Ocean near Huntington Beach. Once complete, it will be one of the longest urban recreation river parkways in the United States.
The $3.4 million will be used for the construction of Phase 3 of the trail from Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino to California Street in Redlands. This trail segment consists of a paved bikeway – a shared use path that is physically separated from any street or highway and may be used by pedestrians, skaters, wheelchair users, and other non-motorized users.
The funding is part of the Proposition 84 bond that allotted $45 million to the Santa Ana River Trail, giving each county $10 million towards their segment of the trail. The California Coastal Conservancy Board is the administrator of these grant funds.
Once accepted by the Board of Supervisors, the County can begin working on construction documents, permits and then construction of the next 3.8 miles of the trail. After completion of Phase 3, there will still be 11 miles of the trail to compete which could take approximately four more years.
To view a map of the Phase 3 segment, click here.
finally! This is so awesome !
Thanks for moving ahead on this segment! It is a MUCH needed connector between Redlands and San Bernardino. Hopefully City of Redlands will continue extending the Orange Blossom Trail to connect it with downtown Redlands!!!
Now start leaning on Norco to get that trail built through Horse City USA! Missing link and all that…
I can hardly wait until this is completed. People in the western counties are always going on about connecting the SART to Orange County, but everyone I know who rides wants the SART to go through to Redlands ASAP, and eventually beyond. Riding from Riverside to Redlands without cars would be a dream come true for many of us. Redlands has so many bike friendly businesses, and imagine a traffic-free, fast ride to the Redlands bike races! Please hurry; I’m not getting any younger 🙂
It is wonderful this next segment is going to be implemented! Please let us know when the permanent alignment is expected to be complete. Riding on Waterman and Orange Show Road is not nearly as effective as riding on a real Class 1 bikeway! I think between SANBAG and Metrolink and County Flood Control you folks can come up with a workable way to cross the railroad at the confluence of Mission Creek and Santa Ana River! Who knows, maybe eventually this can serve as a bike freeway for commuters in the IE as we ride ourselves fit now that the air quality has improved so much!
It’s now June 2020, five uears later. Where is it?
October 2020, over 5 years, and construction hasn’t even started. Is the $3.4M just sitting there?? What is going on?