The trail improvements close the one-mile gap in the Iron Horse Trail between Isabel Avenue and the existing trail segment behind the Heritage Estates senior care property on Stanley Boulevard, city officials said in a statement.
The project included approximately 5,000 feet of a 10-foot-wide asphalt concrete trail with 2-foot shoulders and a new multi-use pedestrian/bicycle bridge that spans across Murrieta Boulevard and connects to the existing trail east of Murrieta Boulevard, which officials expect will provide safe crossing for trail users.
"The new segment of Iron Horse Trail between Isabel Avenue and Murrieta Boulevard provides local residential neighborhood families, the nearby senior community at Heritage Estates, and venturing visitors with a safe and accessible, paved multi-use trail to be active all year round while enjoying the natural beauty of the recently completed habitat conservation corridor along Arroyo Mocho," city officials told Livermore Vine in an email.
The location of the Iron Horse Trail project aligned with work Zone 7 had planned for flood control channel improvements, referred to as the Arroyo Mocho Stanley Reach stabilization project.
The city and Zone 7 worked together to accommodate construction of both projects. Zone 7's project transformed about 0.3 miles of the existing flood protection channel to now include natural streamside vegetation and bank stabilization.
Volunteers from Living Arroyos -- a multi-agency partnership that includes the city of Livermore, Zone 7, the Livermore Area Recreation and Park District, and the cities of Pleasanton and Dublin -- are maintaining the vegetation enhancements at the site. The program focuses on enhancing and maintaining the urban streams and streamside habitats of the Livermore and Amador valleys, according to its website.
About two dozen people attended the May 17 event that marked the Iron Horse Trail segment's official opening, including representatives from the Zone 7 Water Board of Directors and Livermore City Council members Brittni Kiick and Bob Carling. Outgoing city manager Marc Roberts was also in attendance along with his successor, Marianna Marysheva.
This Iron Horse Trail project is the first of four planned projects in Livermore that will connect pedestrians and cyclists to transit centers, parks, schools, downtown and other destinations.
