When finished, the paved trail will be 12 to 16 feet wide, with unpaved shoulders of 2 to 3 feet, and will cross eight local streets between Meadowview and Sutterville Rd.
According to a Caltrans document from early 2022, the City of Sacramento will also be “perfecting its property rights” during the project.
“The City has identified approximately 70 private property encroachments into public space that are being addressed with the project,” says the Del Rio Trail Project Narrative written by Emily Gibson. “Encroachments into the public space include abandoned fences and sheds, junk storage, concrete pads, and used construction supplies. As part of the project, the City will be removing these encroachments and cleaning these spaces for public use.”
Between 2019 and 2021, Gibson reported, the City responded to “247 incidents of illegal dumping” along the route of the new trail comprising “almost 500 cubic yards of debris.” The City will continue to be responsible for waste removal after the trail is finished.
An old raiload bridge — part of the abandoned Walnut Grove Branch of the Sacramento Southern Railroad that once reached Isleton — crosses over the Willow Slough drainage ditch, and will have to be replaced during construction.
The last train on the line was operated on October 10, 1978. To see what the old railway may have looked like, see the historical videos below of the Sacramento Northern branch.
