Rialto to consider funding recreational trail
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10:00 PM PDT on Monday, March 31, 2008
Rialto's portion of a 21-mile recreational trail to Claremont could get the green light tonight if the City Council approves the funds needed to plan and design the westernmost segment.
The Pacific Electric Inland Empire Trail is a walking and bicycling path being built on the route of a former streetcar line. The old "Red Cars" of the Pacific Electric system traveled all over Southern California, and Rialto was a stop on its 59-mile, San Bernardino-to-Los Angeles line.
Segments of the new recreational trail already have been built along the old streetcar right-of-way in Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland and Montclair.
Tonight, the Rialto City Council will discuss whether to spend $350,000 in Redevelopment Agency bond funds to pay for design of a 1 ¼-mile segment between Maple and Cactus avenues, on the western edge of town.
In a written report to the City Council -- which doubles as the Rialto Redevelopment Agency board -- a consultant hired by the city estimated that portion of the trail would cost $2.5 million to build.
The firm, Rancho Cucamonga-based Dan Guerra & Associates, conducted a feasibility analysis for Rialto's entire 2.5-mile portion of the Pacific Electric Inland Empire Trail, between Maple Avenue on the west and Pepper Avenue on the east. Railroad tracks remain along the route, which is parallel to and a few blocks north of the Metrolink tracks.
In Rialto, part of the old Pacific Electric route is still used by Union Pacific freight trains, which deliver lumber from Oregon once a week to Orange County Lumber, at 436 W. Rialto Ave.
The company, which owns 14 acres near Lilac Avenue and Rialto Avenue, moved to the site in the early 1990s, said Richard Hormuth, co-owner and president of Orange County Lumber.
The consultant's report addressed obstacles the city would have to overcome if it wants to build the Pacific Electric trail across the lumber company's land.
That portion of the trail would be part of the project's second phase, a three-quarter-mile segment between Cactus and Riverside avenues. "Options to consider include relocation of the lumber yard ... or reassigning the rail service to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (tracks), south of the lumber yard, and truck (the deliveries) on-site," the Guerra & Associates report said.
"The city has never contacted me," Hormuth said Monday.
A spur from the Union Pacific tracks veers onto the company's property, long enough to fit 10 freight rail cars.
If the city decides that the lumber yard's deliveries should be rerouted onto the BNSF tracks, then the deliveries would have to be unloaded from the rail cars, transferred onto big-rig trucks, driven to the lumber yard and unloaded, Hormuth said.
The extra steps would drive up Orange County Lumber's expenses, he said.
"I guess it would be feasible, but it would be costly," Hormuth said. "Here, we unload the rail cars with our forklift, and the material is set on the ground in our yard."
Orange County Lumber is among the city's top 25 sales tax generators, Hormuth said.
City officials hope to get some money from San Bernardino Associated Governments, a county transportation planning agency that has helped other cities pay for their Pacific Electric trail segments. SANBAG's funds come in part from a countywide quarter-cent sales tax.
A portion of the Pacific Electric trail in Fontana's downtown runs between Juniper and Palmetto avenues. West of that, crews are building another segment from Juniper to Tokay Avenue, said Kevin Ryan, principal transportation planner in Fontana's city Engineering Department.
That stretch will be complete this spring, Ryan said. Fontana's next segment is expected to be a 1 ¼-mile portion, running from Palmetto east to Maple Avenue -- which would hook up with Rialto's first segment, he said.
Reach Mary Bender at 909-806-3056 or mbender@PE.com
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