Informational Report on the Potential Preservation of the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line by Railbanking including Future Potential Adverse Abandonment Actions for Heavy Freight Rail Only & Termination of the ACL Agreement — SCCRTC
Environmentalists Announce Support for Greenway
Local Environmentalists Support Greenway as the Simplest, Fastest and Most Ecologically Sustainable Pathway to Mobility
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — January 19, 2022 — Fifteen local environmentalists announced their support for Greenway today, adding their voices to the more than 16,000 signatures for the Greenway Initiative, to be on the June, 2022 ballot.
2021 Year In Review
What an incredible year 2021 has been!
Even though it’s been a challenging year to live through, we’ve made enormous progress toward realizing the vision of Greenway and creating an integrated transportation system that works for all.
YES Greenway Delivers Over 16,000 Signatures to County
On Tuesday, December 14, 2021, YES Greenway announced that it delivered over 16,000 signatures to the Santa Cruz County Clerk. This is well over the 11,919 needed to qualify the Greenway Ballot Measure.
Read the full press release on the YES Greenway site: Largest Number of Signatures Ever Collected in Santa Cruz County Delivered to County Clerk
Santa Cruz County Residents In Strong Opposition to Blatant Attempt to Privatize Community’s Rail Corridor
Thousands of Santa Cruz County residents today announced their opposition to the demo of a tourist trolley by TIG/m and its local partner Coast Futura, a spinout organization of the Friends of the Rail and Trail (FORT), in their attempt to privatize the publicly owned Santa Cruz County Branch Rail Line.
Letter to the RTC regarding the TIG/m trolley
Railbanking Fact Sheet and Frequently Asked Questions
A fact sheet and FAQ on railbanking from the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission. The fact sheet and FAQ were included in the agenda for the September 2, 2021 meeting.
Preservation of the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line
The text of a memo from Guy Preston, Executive Director of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission. The memo was included in the agenda for the September 2, 2021 meeting.
Train Engineers Oppose Passenger Rail on Branch Line
Four local engineers who drove the last trains on the Santa Cruz Branch Line north of Watsonville announced today they oppose passenger rail on the line and support the trail proposal advocated by Santa Cruz County Greenway as the safest, most effective, and affordable option for the community. Greenway is advocating to replace the 32 miles of unused tracks with dedicated paths for pedestrians and cyclists as the backbone of an improved countywide active transportation network, while preserving the possibility of future rail transit through railbanking.
Health Care Providers Rally in Support of the Greenway
Over 200 doctors, nurses and medical professionals announced today that they support the trail proposal advocated by Santa Cruz County Greenway (sccgreenway.org) as the safest, healthiest and most equitable option for the community. Greenway advocates preserving the possibility of future rail transit and replacing the unused tracks now with dedicated paths for pedestrians and cyclists as the backbone of an improved countywide active transportation network.
Greenway Announces Support From Over 100 In Surf Community
Santa Cruz County Greenway, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising broad-based support for transforming the unused Santa Cruz County rail corridor into a positive community asset, announced today the support of members of the local surf community. Santa Cruz County surfers and ocean enthusiasts have come together to endorse the Greenway vision of a multi-use trail on the corridor, creating a wide enough path to accommodate bike and pedestrian use, as well as new e-mobility forms of active transportation.
$30M per Mile of Trail - Stop the Waste
Progressive Rail wants out of Contract with Santa Cruz County RTC
Ribbon Cutting on Rail Trail to Nowhere
Why does the dog wag its tail?
Petition Comments
Greenway Presents 10,000 Petition Signatures to RTC
Santa Cruz County Greenway presented a petition with over 10,000 signatures of county residents to Guy Preston, Executive Director of the RTC. The petition says, “I agree with the conclusions of the Santa Cruz County Greenway Study that a multi-use path for pedestrians, bikes and electric bikes is the best use of the rail corridor and that a train does NOT deliver the ridership, safety, or other benefits to justify its enormous cost.”
Scenario “R”ealistic
Members of the Santa Cruz County community are proposing a realistic, effective and affordable set of projects from the Unified Corridors Study called Scenario R. Scenario R provides congestion relief and public transit options on Hwy 1, Soquel/Freedom and the Coastal Corridor less capital and about half the annual operating expense.
Community Groups Support METRO’s Request for an Alternatives Analysis of the Rail Corridor
Greenway Input to UCS
When Greenway examined all the benefits, including; total collisions, mean auto speed, person trips, economic vitality, tax revenue, cost associated with collisions, vehicle miles traveled, criteria pollutants, CO2 emissions, household transportation costs, and equity considerations, the benefits do not vary much from Scenario to Scenario. In fact, there isn’t much difference from the Baseline or No Build Scenarios.