Filling the gaps

The trail through Bair Island is an official part of the San Francisco Bay Trail. Although the San Francisco Bay Trail will ultimately circle the Bay and serve as a way for pedestrians and cyclists to safely get from one part of the Bay Area to another, it also has many dead-end offshoots — of which, the Bair Island trail is one. Those offshoots provide access to scenic viewpoints and other interesting destinations — such as the Redwood City Municipal Marina — but their dead-end nature means they aren’t helpful when you are simply trying to get from point A to point B. Thus, when I need to walk between Redwood Shores and the rest of Redwood City, I instead employ a parallel, but separate, path. This alternate route, which is paved, runs parallel to Highway 101 from the southern end of Skyway Road, by the airport, down to Whipple Avenue and then to Bair Island Road.

Currently, one key gap in the Bay Trail is being filled thanks to the various projects being built just east of Highway 101 along Maple Street in Redwood City. Soon, the trail will follow the southern edge of Redwood Creek until it reaches Maple Street, after which it will follow Maple out to Blomquist Street. A future project should result in the construction of a wide, comfortable sidewalk along that street, extending the trail down to Seaport Boulevard.

Because I regularly walk through Redwood City, San Carlos and Redwood Shores, I’m intimately familiar with the remaining large gap in our part of the San Francisco Bay Trail. To get from the southern tip of the San Carlos Airport to where the trail officially resumes — behind Shores Landing, at the southern end of Twin Dolphin Drive — means walking the length of Skyway Road (where there is a sidewalk); then along Airport Way (where there isn’t); crossing Redwood Shores Parkway; walking one block to the east, again crossing Redwood Shores Parkway; and following Twin Dolphin Drive to the parking lot in front of Shores Landing. It works, but it’s messy.

The folks behind the Bay Trail have an idea for filling this particular gap, and it’s one I’ve thought of myself. I’ve always found it a bit odd that although Redwood Shores and the rest of Redwood City are part of one contiguous whole, you cannot get between them either by car or on foot without passing through San Carlos. That would be fixed if a trail could be built along the airport’s eastern side, following Steinberger Slough. Such a trail would give pedestrians and cyclists a shorter and significantly safer connection between the paved path leading up from Whipple Avenue and the trail section running out to the eastern tip of Redwood Shores — from where you can see the open waters of the San Francisco Bay.

On paper, such a trail could be built entirely on land that is part of Redwood City. However, I suspect that, in reality, such a trail may be both expensive and politically difficult to construct. For one, there likely isn’t enough dry land between the airport and Steinberger Slough in some spots, meaning that the land would have to be extended a bit farther into the slough to accommodate the trail. That would involve getting buy-in from organizations such as the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which I suspect would not be easy. For another, the close proximity of the trail to a working airport may mean the involvement of whichever federal agencies have jurisdiction there.

Redwood City has some terrific trails from which you can view the Bay and the adjacent wetlands. Slowly they are being connected into what someday should be a cohesive whole providing smooth, relatively safe paths that pedestrians and cyclists can use for commuting and for sightseeing. A few key pieces are still missing, however, pieces that may be difficult and expensive to construct. With our urging and support, our leaders, perhaps in partnership with private developers, should be able to fill in the gaps and finish this fantastic trail system.

Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.