Proposed Beach Trail on the Right Track : San Clemente Pathway Would Enhance Safety Near Railroad, Increase Beach Access

One of the joys of riding the rails through South County is gazing at the Pacific, close enough to smell the salt. But if you’re on foot in San Clemente, crossing those same tracks to reach the water is difficult and too often dangerous.

Now the city is considering building a trail along the beach and establishing safe access across railroad tracks to the sand. It is a good idea, and it received some encouraging boosts recently.

The state has awarded San Clemente a $400,000 grant to get trail development rolling, and the city has hired a consulting firm to design the trail.

The pathway should prove popular with strollers, bike riders, skaters and joggers, so long as San Clemente makes sure to keep them apart.

Collisions between trail users have occured in numerous Southern California communities over the years. Huntington Beach wisely has decided to reconfigure its asphalt pathway, which is 20 feet wide and elbow to elbow on summer weekends.

Huntington Beach is using a $250,000 federal grant to improve a 200-yard section of the city beach, to include two 12-foot-wide pathways, one for pedestrians and the other for cyclists and skaters. San Clemente’s problem is more complicated because of the railroad tracks, where at least three people have been killed in the past year by trains.

The state Public Utilities Commission has limited the number of rail crossings. Unfortunately, the PUC’s mandate to enforce train safety, necessary though it is, conflicts with the California Coastal Commission, which rightly wants beaches accessible to the public. The Coastal Commission has identified more beach access points than the PUC approved.

San Clemente already has an estimated 2 million people visiting the beaches each year. Getting them there safely is necessary, and improved access can open the charming vistas to still more people.