Capitola town hall weighs Park Avenue alignment for Coastal Rail Trail as $67.6M grant deadline looms

Capitola — County and regional transportation officials told a packed town‑hall meeting that the City of Capitola must decide soon whether to move the Coastal Rail Trail off the rail corridor and onto Park Avenue if the region is to keep state construction funding for Segments 10 and 11.

Rob Tidmore, project manager for the County of Santa Cruz, told residents the Segments 10–11 project — a 4.2‑mile portion of the 32‑mile Coastal Rail Trail — has secured $93.4 million in funding but still faces an approximately $18.3 million shortfall based on 2023 cost estimates. “It is critical to identify [an] alignment this month to stay on schedule and meet the grant deadline,” Tidmore said, noting the Active Transportation Program grant requires construction funding to be requested by April 2027.

The question matters because the ATP award of $67,600,000 is the main funding source for the county’s work on the trail, and the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) and county say project delivery depends on meeting the grant schedule. The Park Avenue alignment — which shifts about 0.7 mile of the proposed trail inland and adjacent to Park Avenue rather than along the coastal rail corridor — was recommended during a 2024 value‑engineering review as a way to reduce cost, improve neighborhood connectivity and avoid expensive coastal retaining walls and a viaduct.

Why Park Avenue: staff case

The county, RTC and Capitola staff described technical and cost reasons for preferring Park Avenue in several stretches. Tidmore said the Park Avenue route requires less new infrastructure, reduces conflict with private encroachments on the rail right of way, keeps the trail farther from bluff erosion, and improves access to Cliffwood Heights and schools. Jessica Khan, Capitola public works director, said Park Avenue’s connection to neighborhood streets would improve safe routes to school and that the Park Avenue work was coordinated with earlier city traffic‑calming planning.

Grace Blakesley, a transportation planner at the Santa…