The Humboldt Bay Trail South, a project decades in the making, will likely connect Eureka and Arcata with a pedestrian pathway in the coming months. Humboldt County Public Works entered the project’s final stretch, with only slope protection, paving and final grading remaining. Most of the 4.
25 miles of paved trail will run alongside the Humboldt Bay, providing ample recreational or transportation opportunities between the county’s largest population bases, and one-mile is near the Brainard Mill site. “It is going to be a beautiful access (trail) and a beautiful walk or bike ride once it’s done,” Tom Mattson, Humboldt County’s director of Public Works said. Mattson added his department typically stops construction in October for the rainy season, and he expects the project to be complete by the fall.
The project, funded by Caltrans and the California State Coastal Conservancy, will also be incorporated into the Great Redwood Trail initiative linking San Francisco’s and Humboldt County’s bays. Construction on the southern portion of the project began in 2023. Mattson added a volunteer group working with the Humboldt Area Foundation was responsible for a significant donation of maintenance materials Public Works will use to keep the trail adequately maintained.
The trail presents an easy, beautiful path between Arcata and Eureka that doesn’t involve U.S. Highway 101, a significant deterrence for prospective pedestrians and cyclists.
Colin Fiske, executive dire.