Resources

Santa Cruz County
Regional Transportation Commission (SCCRTC)
Studies, Reports, FAQs, Communications

  1. 2017 In Progress Unified Corridor Investment Study (UCS)

  2. 2015-12 Santa Cruz County Rail Transit Feasibility Study

  3. 2015-08 Letter from SCCRTC commissioners to CTC, Enquiry about paying back Proposition 116 funds

  4. 2015-09 Response from California Transportation Commission (CTC) to SCCRTC commissioners, “Once the (Proposition 116) funds are refunded RTC may use the Santa Cruz Branch Line and/or any of its facilities for any lawful purpose.”

  5. Westside SC Rail Trail Design Plans (aka Segment 7): Subsection 1 Subsection 2 Subsection 3 Subsection 4

  6. Measure D information from SCCRTC

  7. Searchable version of RTC agreement with SC/MB Railway Co.

  8. 2014-02 Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail (MBSST) Network Final Master Plan, The Master Plan was adopted on November 2013 and amended in February 2014.

  9. 2013-11 Final Environmental Impact Report for the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail (MBSST) Network Master Plan, A Final Environmental Impact Report on the Master Plan for the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network project was certified on November 2013. The RTC also certified consideration of an addendum to the FEIR on February 2014.

  10. 2012-09-07 Surface Transportation Board (STB) Decision, Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission—Petition For Declaratory Order, “Digest: Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission does not need Board authorization to acquire the physical assets of the Santa Cruz Branch line in Santa Cruz County, Cal. Although Santa Cruz is acquiring the physical assets of the line, it will not acquire the right and legal obligation to provide freight rail service, which will be retained by the seller and then transferred to a third-party easement owner/operator. Nor will Santa Cruz be in a position to interfere unduly with freight rail operations.”

  11. 2010-09-23 Union Pacific Purchase and Sales Agreement

  12. 2010 RTC FAQ

  13. 2010-03-16 Appraisal Review Report and Appraisal Review Certificate of Appraisals and Related Valuation Analyses for the Santa Cruz Branch Line of the Santa Cruz Subdivision of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, Tim Landes, SR/WA

  14. 2009-09-04 Appraisal Report of Union Pacific Railroad’s Santa Cruz Subdivision, Colliers Pinkard

  15. 2008-12 Business and Management Plan SCCRTC Rail Line Assets, Renaissance Rail Group, Egan Consulting Group

  16. 2008-08-04 Santa Cruz Branch Line Business Plan, Systra Consulting

  17. 2005-11 Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line Informational Right-of-Way Maps [230MB PDF], RTC

  18. 2005-05-11 Santa Cruz Branch: Preliminary Title Report, Memorandum, Kirk Trost

  19. 2004-09 A Valuation Study of the Track, Signals, Structures And Other Railroad Improvements Located On The Union Pacific Railroad Company's Santa Cruz Subdivision Between Watsonville Junction And Davenport California, Prepared by The Woodside Consulting Group for the SCCRTC

  20. 2004-08-04 Business and Management Plan SCCRTC Rail Line Assets, Renaissance Rail Group, Egan Consulting Group

  21. 2001-05-15 CTC Letter to RTC with Opinion about Prop 116 Funds, California Transportation Commission

Trails and paths

  1. Highway Design Manual, Chapter 1000 Bicycle Transportation Design—CA DOT, 2017

  2. Evaluation of Safety, Design, and Operation of Shared-Use Paths [PDF]—Describes the development of a new method to analyze the quality of service provided by shared paths of various widths and the accommodation of various travel–mode splits. Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology, June 2006.

  3. Rails-with-Trails Lessons Learned—US DOT, FHA, FRA, NHTSA, FTA, August 2002

Other

  1. Comparison of Trail with and without the tracks—Table compiled by Ron Goodman, a former board member of Bike Santa Cruz County. Ron is a supporter of sustainable transportation and community recreational facilities. He has been involved in the process since People Power began advocating for local acquisition of the rail corridor circa 1991 and does not have a final position on trail-with-rail, trail-only, or some combination. His goal is to promote thoughtful discussion, to respect and trust the contributions of various individuals and groups, and to find a solution that best serves our community. The opinions presented on this page are those of the individual contributors and not necessarily of Bike Santa Cruz County or any other organization.

  2. Santa Cruz’s Abbott Square to Reopen After Decades of Underuse: Why Abbott Square could be the public space breakthrough that Santa Cruz needs—By Cat Johnson, GoodTimes, Posted May 2017. The Greenway could be our next breakthrough in public space!

  3. Santa Cruz cyclists are highly prone to wrecks, according to report—By Michael Todd, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Posted May 2017

  4. Map of North Coast Farmers Alternate Trail Proposal, 2017

  5. How Mountain Bikers Beat Heroin Hill: Over the last 20 years, the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz group has revolutionized cycling advocacy—By Geoff Drake, Posted on March 2017. An inspiring story about how MBoSC volunteers built a trail in an area of Pogonip that had been nicknamed “Heroin Hill” and transformed the nature of one of our local public spaces.

  6. An Overwhelming Bias Dec 2016—A rebuttal to the December 8, 2016 RTC report.

  7. Vision Capitola: Creating Community May 2016—Vision Capitola is the inspiration of Gayle Ortiz who felt that it’s always a good time for our community to come together and discuss what citizens value about Capitola and want to see happen in the next 5 to 15 years. A small group including Gayle, Mick Routh, Sam Storey, Steven Woodside, Susan and Nels Westman, Katharine Parker, and Rich Didday has worked to create the process.

  8. Robert Hammond: Building a park in the sky—TED2011, New York was planning to tear down the High Line, an abandoned elevated railroad in Manhattan, when Robert Hammond and a few friends suggested: Why not make it a park? He shares how it happened in this tale of local cultural activism.

  9. Rails to Trails Railbanking report and Railbanking Basics and The Railbank process/timeline

Greenways and rail trails
from around the USA and the world

  1. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy map of trail communities throughout the USA and the benefits of communities like these

  2. “Pennsylvania’s Three Rivers Heritage Trail,” Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Trail of the Month: April 2017—“Once it was the place parents told you not to go, now it’s the place to be."

  3. “Kick Off Spring With These 10 Bucket-List Biking Trails,” Rails-to-Trails Conservancy: TrailBlog, Destinations—Stretching from sea to shining sea is an incredible expanse of trails running through forests, farmlands, parks, city centers and wildlife areas—and connecting us with nature, history and our communities. And while every trail offers its own unique experience, there are some that are so extraordinary that they truly rise to the top.

  4. “10 Stunning Photos from RTC’s Midwest Rail-Trail Mapping Trips,” Rails-to-Trails Conservancy: TrailBlog, Destinations—Here are our top 10 favorite photos, and you can check out all of our on-the-trail adventures on our Instagram page. And don’t forget to look out for our Midwest rail-trail guidebook this spring!

  5. Bahntrassenradeln – European rail-trail directory—This is a private website collecting information about railway cycle paths in Europe with a strong focus on the German-speaking area. Rail-trails as a special form of greenways have become very popular during the last decades. In several European countries, ambitious rail-trail programs have been established (in Spain, the francophone region of Belgium or as a part of the National Cycle Network in the United Kingdom for instance). All in all, some thousand kilometers of converted railway lines are used as valuable cycle routes today.

  6. Rails-to-Trails International—This page provides a guide to abandoned railroad right-of-ways converted to rail-trails for hiking, cycling, horseback riding, snowmobiling, and recreation.