Korina

Good questions, I wish I had answers. What I remember from the assessment a couple of years ago is that a large portion of the cost will be for cleaning up after the railroad. There are rusting tracks, rail cars, old ties, everywhere including the Eel River. I don't know if the state will go so far as to steam clean the gravel around the tracks, but it needs to be cleaned up anyway, trail or no.

They do plan to do it in sections, going with the easiest parts first and saving the hardest part (lookin' at you, Eel River Canyon) for last. As Senator McGuire has said all along, this isn't going to be a fast project; it's going to take years, and I imagine funding will be part of it. I do know that the Senator has worked hard for this for a long time, and I don't think he's going to let it languish for lack of money. I expect it to be as (in)efficient as any other government-run project.

Heck, parts of the trail already exist! There's a section in Ukiah, the Elk River Estuary/Hikshari'/Waterfront Trail in Eureka (the county has begun planning the next section south to College of the Redwoods), the Humboldt Bay Trail that connects to the Waterfront Trail (groundbreaking for the missing middle section is in a couple of days), with the northern section in Arcata completed six years ago, and the city's working on expanding that another few miles to the Mad River and eventually to Blue Lake. So I don't think it's going to all be state funded; I hope more communities will take it upon themselves to build sections through their towns.