Plan for Beach Trail Wins $1-Million Grant

The city has won a $1-million federal grant to build a beach walk that will give beach goers both a recreational trail and safer paths across the railroad tracks, where at least three people have been killed in the last year and a half.

The first phase of the trail will be built from North Beach to the T Street Bridge just south of the San Clemente Pier along a one-mile stretch of railroad tracks that parallel the ocean. It will provide a path for joggers, bike riders and in-line skaters and give beach goers more places to safely cross the railroad tracks.

“We only have four or six acknowledged railroad crossings, and we have over 2 million people crossing the railroad every year,” City Manager Michael W. Parness said. “This is a major step forward.”

The $3-million project is expected to be completed in three phases, Parness said. The second will be from the pier to Calafia Beach, and the third will be from Calafia to Cotton’s Point, a total of about four miles.

“The goal is to ultimately connect with the San Diego Trail system and Doheny State Beach,” Parness said. “That would give people 70 miles of uninterrupted trails.”

Until then, the city will continue applying for grants, Parness said. Along with the $1-million federal grant, which was administered through the Orange County Transportation Authority, the city received a $400,000 state grant in August 1995. Public workshops should begin next year, after the project design is completed. But officials don’t know when construction will begin.

“There’s a lot of regulatory hoops we still have to jump through before we can get started,” Parness said. “We have a long road ahead of us.”