November 16, 2019
In the San Francisco Bay Area, a dedication ceremony – complete with a ribbon-cutting — was held less than two weeks before Thanksgiving for a bicycle and pedestrian path that had recently been added to the San Rafael-Richmond Bridge (officially named the John F. McCarthy Memorial Bridge in honor of a longtime California state senator). This 5.5-mile (8.9-kilometer)-long bridge, which opened in 1956, carries Interstate 580 across San Francisco Bay and serves as a link between the cities of San Rafael on the west bank and Richmond on the east side. In 2015, the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) approved the plan to install a protected bicycle and pedestrian path on the westbound shoulder of the bridge’s upper deck.
Hundreds of cyclists and pedestrians showed up for the Saturday dedication of the 10-foot (3.1-meter)-long, American with Disabilities (ADA)-compliant path. “They say if you build it, they will come,” noted the next day’s edition of the San Jose-based Mercury News. “And indeed they did.”
Tom Butt, mayor of Richmond from 2015 to 2023, and his wife Shirley were among those on hand for those opening-day festivities. She characterized the newest addition to that bridge as “absolutely fantastic, because this has been in the works for 34 years — it’s been a long time coming.” Other dignitaries in attendance included representatives from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans); Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC); Chevron Richmond Refinery; Rich City Rides; Bike East Bay; and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.
Amy Worth, MTC commissioner and BATA oversite committee chair, reflected the overall enthusiasm of the day in her own remarks during the ceremony. “We’ve done a lot of ribbon cuttings over the years,” she proclaimed to a rousing round of applause, “and I don’t think I’ve ever seen an event that’s had this many people.” Worth also asserted, “In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we truly are very, very fortunate to have this beautiful place and this beautiful pathway that will be enjoyed for many years to come.”
The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge’s bicycle and pedestrian path is part of the San Francisco Bay Trail in that region of California. To date, at least 356 miles (573 kilometers) of that trail have been completed.
Photo Credit: RubberDuckerDebugger (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
For more information on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, please check out https://structurae.net/en/structures/richmond-san-rafael-bridge
Additional information on the San Francisco Bay Trail is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Trail
Transportation History 