After the recent blog entry about whether McKinleyville is bicycle friendly or not, I wondered whether folks are familiar with the Mid-Town Trail. If not, here’s a quick tour. The trail runs from Railroad Drive to Parkside Drive, located behind Mack High.
Here’s where it starts on Railroad Drive, roughly halfway between Central and McKinleyville avenues.
Here’s a sign at the trail entrance. Unless I’m mistaken, the trail was built entirely by developer Jim Furtado in conjunction with several subdivisions he built in the area. That means that no grants or tax dollars were required. Maintenance is paid for by residents of those subdivisions.
Here’s where the trail cross Bates Road. Not long ago the county installed “traffic calming devices” here. I’m told that Bates is still a drag strip.
Here’s the trail north of Bates. Graffiti and vandalism are a constant problem. I think that’s due, in part, to the design. With fences on both sides, McKinleyville’s population of feral teens can hang out in these areas and wreak havoc without being seen. Perhaps in the future such paths should be located adjacent to roadways. But, hey, that’s just my opinion. What do I know.
The trail pops out at Fernwood Drive. Then you take this section.
Here’s where the trail ends on Parkside Drive. There are footpaths that connect to the backside of Mack High. So what do you do if you’re on a bike and want to continue north?
Take Parkside to McKinleyville Avenue. Check out these nice bike lanes. Then take the bike lanes on Murray west.
You can hop on this new section of the Hammond Trail north of Murray Road. Those Hooven fellows did a nice job.
McKinleyville Press Blog 
You must be WRONG! No evil,amoral,greedy,scum bag developer would do such a community positive action. Only a non-profit enviromental based organization with heart felt motivation and muli=leveled grant funding could have the depth of character to accomplish such a task.
I stand corrected ;•)
Bates is a drag strip. Just keeps getting worse. I agree with davids comment 100%. Them greedy builders, just keep doing all the work. On Bates Jim was forced to do all the improvements in all directions, and did a damn good job. It never should have been a tru street but the county planners found a way to have work done by Jim that should have been done on Railroad that they could not afford to do.
I hate to be a killjoy, but the sign does say “Funded by the Quimby Act and North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District.”
Looks like Hank is the only one that actually read the sign! I’ll call the MCSD today and find out more.
Thanks Jack. We built those trails and JLF paid the bill. I think the Quimby Fees meant he didn’t have to pay into the the fund since he built the trail, but I am not sure.
Tim is correct, that’s often how it happens. Developers can either constuct a trail or a park feature – or – they can pay into the Quimby Park Dedication Fund. Much of the Mid-Town Trail was constructed “in lieu” of paying into the Quimby Fund.
Thanks for clearing that up.
What about the North Coast Unified Air Quality portion?
In recall that the MCSD used an air quality grant to build a trail along School Road west of Fischer.
Thanks very much for giving some specifics on this trail’s whereabouts. I have looked for it several times by car with no sightings. I can see now that I can bike to Safeway while staying off Central and McKinleyville Ave. I suggest that the MCSD site link to this detailed description to facilitate finding it since way more people in flat McKinleyville should be biking.
There’s no way to get to the shopping center (where Safeway is) south of Railroad between Central and McKinleyville.
You saying we’re fat?
We’re not fat. We’re phat.
Thank u Jack.