Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail: Moss Landing Segment

Construction had been expected to begin early in 2023 for the Moss Landing segment of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail project. Recent discovery that a retaining wall on a section of Highway 1 has significantly deteriorated, and is falling into Elkhorn Slough, have put this project on hold indefinitely.

The retaining wall is a California Department of Transportation / Caltrans District 5 responsibility.

The County of Monterey had secured $7.5M in state funding for this project. It is our understanding that money will now have to be returned to the state.

Bicycling Monterey trusts that Caltrans will be eager to work hand-in-hand with the County of Monterey to see this longstanding Moss Landing dream of active transportation users become reality. Moreover, it is our hope that Caltrans will use its own resources to build the Moss Landing segment of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail, and soon—perhaps in conjunction with their upcoming Capital Preventive Maintenance Project (CAPM) work in that vicinity.

Did you know? For all new projects, Caltrans has had a policy since December 2021 of requiring Complete Streets features in the planning and design (https://dot.ca.gov/news-releases/news-release-2021-039).

“It is important that we provide
safe, convenient, sustainable and accessible alternatives to driving.”

-Toks Omishakin, Caltrans Director – 7 December 2021
https://dot.ca.gov/news-releases/news-release-2021-039

PDF below provided by the County of Monterey on November 23, 2022.