On March 20th, the Great Redwood Trail Agency Board just approved a Master Plan that will guide design and construction of the Great Redwood Trail (GRT) in Northern California.
The plan is to build a 300-mile trail along the route of the disused Northwestern Pacific Railroad, stretching from the San Francisco Bay in the south to the Humboldt Bay in the north. It will be designed for non-motorized uses like walking, cycling, and horseback riding.
When completed, the Great Redwood Trail will be one of the longest rail-to-trail conversion projects in the country. The planned route traverses California’s most scenic redwood forests, farmlands, mountains, rivers, and wine country, with a range of surfaces from 12-foot-wide, paved segments to narrow backcountry trails.
GRT project background
The GRT project is divided into two segments: a 231-mile northern segment through Mendocino, Trinity, and Humboldt Counties, and a 71-mile southern segment through Sonoma and Marin Counties.
The Great Redwood Trail Agency manages the northern segment, which the newly-approved Master Plan addresses. The plan covers all elements of trail development, from design to habitat restoration and operations, and involved three years of planning with local and Tribal leaders. While a few parts of the northern segment are completed, there are decades of work to be done to convert this abandoned segment of the Northwest Pacific Railroad.
Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART), however, still runs freight and commuter trains on the southern segment of the railroad. They are handling the development of the 71.3 southern trail segment, and have so far constructed 29 miles of multi-use trail along the corridor, ending in Larkspur.
Together, the two segments will ultimately comprise an estimated 307-320 miles of trail through Northern California. This is a long-term project spanning decades, with no specific opening date yet on the table.
🌐 Learn more: You can visit the Great Redwood Trail Agency website to learn more about the project.