After a recent scare wherein the Metropolitan Transportation Commission threatened to pull $1.9 million in funding for the Richmond Greenway due to lack of progress and alleged mismanagement, the project is back on track, thanks to full matching financial support by the Richmond City Council and commitment to effective project management by Richmond Public Services Director, Rich McCoy.

The Richmond Greenway is proposed to develop an abandoned railroad right-of-way running through central Richmond as a regional trail. It will extend from San Pablo Avenue on the east, where it will connect with the already completed Ohlone Greenway, to the Richmond Parkway on the west, where it will connect with the San Francisco Bay Trail. Completion of the Greenway will provide a walking and bicycling trail from Richmond all the way through Berkeley! See Tom Butt E-Forum March 1, 2001 and July 21, 2001, http://www.tombutt.com/e-forum.htm.

The Richmond Greenway will hook up with the Ohlone Greenway at San Pablo Avenue, where a portion of Baxter Creek surfaces ( see http://www.creativedifferences.com/baxtercreek.). The Ohlone Greenway is a landscaped linear park along the former Santa Fe right of way in Albany and El Cerrito, where it parallels the BART right-of-way. Albany's section is broader and more attractive than El Cerrito's, but there are some interesting sections in El Cerrito, including crossings by two branches of Cerrito Creek, a recently daylighted bit of creek near El Cerrito's City Hall, and a garden featuring plants that have been around since the Jurassic. For more information about the history of the Ohlone and Richmond Greenway, see http://www.bpfp.org/SFRW/OhloneGreenway.htm. Recently, the El Cerrito City Council approved matching funds for a grant from the Coastal Conservancy to acquire the last piece of property needed to bring the Ohlone Greenway all the way to San Pablo Avenue. See http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/entertainment/4580302.htm.

For an interesting article about what such a trail can do for urban revitalization, see Of Roads and Railways - Corte Madera Mayor Jin Yang on how refurbishing a railroad right-of-way can revitalize the whole town (10/27/2002 – Chronicle magazine).