The Port of San Diego is moving forward on a new bicycle and pedestrian multi-use path for the Chula Vista Bayfront. The Board of Port Commissioners and the City of Chula Vista have authorized issuance of Coastal Development Permits for the Sweetwater Bicycle Path and Promenade project (Sweetwater Pathway), clearing the way for construction, which is anticipated to begin in the summer of 2019.
The Sweetwater Pathway will wind through the northern portion of the Chula Vista Bayfront, providing beautiful views of San Diego Bay, F and G Street Marsh and adjacent Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, and link the regional Bayshore Bikeway to waterfront amenities and future development sites. It will directly connect the future Sweetwater Park and Harbor Park and provide improved access to the waterfront. It’s anticipated to open in the spring of 2020.
“This pathway is a key component of the future Sweetwater and Harbor Parks and is just one of the many public recreational amenities planned for the Chula Vista Bayfront, supporting the Port’s goals of creating a vibrant waterfront destination and a safe and healthy place for all to visit, work and play,”
Chairman Rafael Castellanos, Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners.“We appreciate the $4.8 million grant from the California Natural Resources Agency to create this new pathway for bicyclists and pedestrians, With additional funding provided from the Port and the City, the Chula Vista Bayfront will have another amazing amenity for residents and visitors to enjoy.”
Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas.
“The Sweetwater Pathway will bring the public to areas of the Chula Vista Bayfront that have never before been accessible while also protecting the bayfront’s natural resources and environment,” said Commissioner Ann Moore, Chula Vista’s representative on the Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners. “I look forward to taking a casual stroll and observing the wildlife that visit or call the area home.”
In bike and pedestrian terminology, the Sweetwater Pathway will be a multi-use, Class I path that provides exclusive right of way for bicyclists and pedestrians away from the roadway with cross flows by motor traffic minimized. It will begin at G Street and go north and east to Bay Boulevard.
The total project cost is $5.63 million, $4.8 million of which is being funded through an Urban Greening Grant awarded to the Port by the California Natural Resources Agency. The intent of the grant is to encourage the development of facilities that connect a community to destinations that they may normally drive to and to encourage the use of trees and vegetation to provide for oxygen production, carbon dioxide sequestration, and urban heat island reduction in temperatures. Additional funding of $794,000 is provided by the Port’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and $33,000 is provided by the City of Chula Vista.
The Sweetwater Pathway is part of the 535-acre Chula Vista Bayfront project, which seeks to transform a largely vacant and underutilized industrial landscape into a thriving recreational, residential and resort destination on the Chula Vista waterfront. When complete, residents and visitors will enjoy more than 200 acres of parks, a shoreline promenade, cycling/running/walking trails, a resort hotel and convention center, RV camping, shopping, dining and more. For more information, go to portofsandiego.org/chulavistabayfront.