Supervisors Authorize Changes to Salt Creek Trail Project

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A pedestrian and bicycle path traversing multiple Riverside County communities will be a little shorter -- but also less expensive -- following action Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

"This is a wonderful start to this," Supervisor Marion Ashley said of the Salt Creek Trail Project. "There's a long way to go, but we're looking to get it done."

At the recommendation of the county Transportation & Land Management Agency, the board voted 5-0 to chop roughly two miles off of the project length, netting about $828,000 in savings. The total construction budget is now $5.15 million, compared to $5.98 million previously, according to TLMA documents.

Agency officials said the trail reduction was necessary due to right-of- way conflicts, flood channel and environmental impacts that had not been anticipated when the project was initiated five years ago.

Work on the first segments of the 16-mile trail, crossing portions of Hemet and Menifee, is slated to get underway early next year.

The Salt Creek Trail will incorporate an existing network of smaller trails and include improved sections that offer a five foot wide space for pedestrians, as well as a 14-foot wide space for bicyclists and other approved devices, according to TLMA.

Once fully developed, the trail will run along the Salt Creek flood control channel, via Canyon Lake, Hemet, Menifee and Winchester. One end will begin in the area of Normandy Road in Menifee, and the other will be accessible from State Street in Hemet, a TLMA map showed.

Three-quarters of the total project budget is comprised of federal Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality monies, with lesser appropriations from county sources.

Along with TLMA, the county Regional Park & Open Space District is involved with the project, which is part of the Southern California Association of Governments' "2035 Bikeway Network" regional plan unveiled in 2012.

— By City News Service / Image via Pixabay