Running the River
Just in time for a springtime stroll, a new trail is now open along the Santa Fe River. Running about a third of a mile between Ricardo and Don Jose streets, the 10-foot-wide concrete path is the first part of a 1.5-mile-long route that will eventually connect Frenchy’s Field and Alto Park. “This will be a multiuse community trail for cyclists, walkers, and people commuting safely from the west side to downtown,” says Rachel Friedman, Santa Fe’s river and watershed coordinator. It is the city’s first work on riverside parkland in 10 years, and it represents a renewed commitment to “infill,” the redevelopment of vacant land within the city’s heart.
In April, workers begin planting native, erosion-fighting trees in the river corridor; they’re also building a bridge over the river near Ricardo Road. Construction on the next section of trail, from Ricardo east to Camino Alire, will start once the city finishes negotiating easements with about 25 property owners along its planned route. The entire project, which should be finished in 2010, will cost the city nearly $4 million—part of its $30 million plan to improve city parks and resuscitate the ailing Santa Fe River. “People don’t see the river as an asset,” says Rich Schrader, director of the local environmental- education organization River Source. “This path will help reconnect people to it.”
