Mid-County Trail Faces New Uncertainty
- Friends of the Rail and Trail
- 11 hours ago
- 3 min read
While construction continues on the North Coast Trail, the future of the Mid-County Trail has become far less certain.
After years of advancing a Rail & Trail project that would preserve the rail corridor while building a continuous trail, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) has shifted toward pursuing a trail-only approach for the Mid-County corridor. That change has created new legal and regulatory questions that could ultimately delay both the trail and future passenger rail planning.
The RTC leadership has repeatedly expressed confidence that changing course will accelerate trail construction. We remain skeptical. Based on the legal issues that have already emerged, we believe the opposite may prove true.
Progress Has Slowed
Today, the Mid-County Trail is no longer moving forward under the same plan that secured more than $100 million in state Active Transportation Program funding. Instead, the RTC is pursuing a series of legal and regulatory actions to remove rail infrastructure while attempting to preserve future options.
Those actions have yet to receive all of the necessary approvals, and several significant legal questions remain unresolved. Every additional regulatory step creates opportunities for delay, litigation, and rising construction costs.
Unfortunately, what was once presented as the fastest path to completing the trail may instead become one of the slowest.
Capitola Decisions Added More Risk
These challenges were compounded by decisions made in Capitola to reject a less expensive, parallel alignment near Park Avenue that would have preserved both rail and trail while avoiding some of the most difficult engineering challenges.
That decision increased project complexity and narrowed the available options for completing the corridor.
Federal Rail Law Still Matters
As many residents learned during the Greenway ballot campaign, the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line is the only connection between the Felton Branch Line, operated by Roaring Camp, and the national rail network.
Federal law gives the Surface Transportation Board responsibility for protecting those rail connections. Permanently severing an active rail operator from the national system without following the required federal process presents significant legal questions.
The RTC's current strategy relies on a federal "discontinuance" process that is used to suspend rail service while repairing the line, not to remove track infrastructure. Whether that process can legally support large-scale track removal remains uncertain and could ultimately be challenged.
Property Rights Could Trigger Additional Litigation
Another unresolved issue involves property rights along Segment 11 in Aptos.
Some legal experts have argued that if the RTC removes the railroad under a discontinuance rather than through the federal railbanking process, adjacent property owners may have grounds to challenge the continued use of portions of the corridor or seek compensation for property interests. If those claims move forward, they could add years of litigation before construction resumes.
Whether those lawsuits ultimately succeed is unknown. However, the possibility of prolonged legal disputes creates additional uncertainty for a project already facing rising costs and tight grant deadlines.
Our Concern
We support completing the Mid-County Trail as quickly as possible. We also support preserving the rail corridor so future generations retain the transportation options that voters have repeatedly endorsed.
Our concern is simple: changing course after years of planning has introduced legal and regulatory risks that were largely avoided under the original Rail & Trail approach.
If those concerns prove well-founded, the result could be years of additional delay, escalating construction costs, and the loss of valuable state and federal funding opportunities.
Everyone who wants a completed trail should expect a strategy that minimizes legal risk rather than increases it. We hope RTC commissioners carefully evaluate these issues before taking actions that could jeopardize progress on both the trail and the rail corridor.
