The Other River Parkway
Just imagine this running all the way to Freeport.
Sacramento was built at the confluence of two great rivers: the Sacramento and the American. They join near Discovery Park and then flow south as the Sacramento River past Old Sacramento, Miller Park, Land Park, and Pocket.
While you can run along the American River all the way up to Folsom Lake (and beyond if you are motivated), you can only run along the Sacramento River for a few miles before you run into the first locked gate (near the La Rivage Hotel).
In my decades of running in the Sacramento area, I’ve run along this locked portion of the levee at least twice. Once, many years ago, a friend and I simply climbed each fence in our way. We were yelled at by homeowners and I cut my hand on one of the tall, chain-link fences, but it was a fun and interesting look at what was possible.
More recently, a group of friends took advantage of the gates being open for levee inspectors during a high-water event. This was a bit easier than scaling the fences, but can only be done when the river is near flood-stage.
For years, there has been talk of opening up those gates and granting free access to the levee road to cyclists and pedestrians. For just as long, there hasn’t been a city council willing to fight the handful of homeowners that stand in the way of this.
Matt Weiser has an article in today’s Bee that gives some of the history of this issue and indicates the City Council might be willing to begin acting on the City’s Sacramento River Parkway Plan, which was adopted in 1997 and made it City policy to pursue public access to these levees.
The City Council will be looking at a staff proposal to implement the plan at its November 13th meeting. The Parks and Recreation Commission is discussing the proposal tonight.
If you are interested in the proposal, you might want to contact your council member before November 13th, and go to the meeting if you can.
Just imagine being able to run or ride your bike along the river from Folsom to Freeport!
Running to Freeport? How about running to San Francisco?! The Delta Protection Commission is even now planning the Great California Delta Trail from Sacramento to the San Francisco Bay Trail, and the Sacramento River Parkway is the first link. Without a complete Sacramento River Parkway, we won’t have a runner-friendly link to the Delta Trail. If you want to learn more, check out the website of the Sacramento River Parkway Coalition at http://www.SacramentoRiverParkway.org.
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