Ohlone Greenway facts for kids
The Ohlone Greenway is a special path for walking and biking in the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. It's about 4.5 miles long. This path was first called the Ohlone Trail.
The Greenway is named after the Ohlone people. They are a Native American group who lived in this area a long time ago.
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Exploring the Ohlone Greenway
The Ohlone Greenway starts in the city of Berkeley. You can find its beginning at the east side of Ohlone Park, near Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Hearst Avenue. From there, it goes west to Sacramento and Delaware streets.
Around the North Berkeley BART station, the path changes a bit. For a short part, it becomes a bike lane on the street. But then, the path goes back to being its own special route.
Cities Along the Path
After Berkeley, the Greenway continues northwest. It goes through the cities of Albany and El Cerrito. The path ends in Richmond at San Pablo Avenue. This spot is called Baxter Creek Gateway Park, and it connects to the Richmond Greenway.
History of the Ohlone Greenway
For most of its length, the Ohlone Greenway follows an old railroad track. It runs right next to the elevated BART train tracks. BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit. For much of this path, there are two separate lanes: one for people walking and another for people riding bikes.
From Railroad to Path
Part of the Greenway, from the North Berkeley BART station to Rose Street in Berkeley, used to be a railway line for the Key System. This was a type of electric train system. Another part, from Rose Street to the El Cerrito del Norte BART station, was once used by the Santa Fe Railroad.
BART trains started running on their elevated tracks in 1973. The last Santa Fe freight train used the route in 1979. This means for a few years, you could see both a BART train above and a Santa Fe train below, right where the Ohlone Greenway is now!
Building the Park
The idea for this "linear park" came about when the BART system was being built. It even received money from the government to help with landscaping and making it beautiful.
In the mid-2000s, new parts of the Greenway were opened in Berkeley. A branch was added south to University Avenue, using another old Santa Fe railroad path. By 2012, a missing section between Cedar Rose Park and Delaware was finally completed, connecting the path even more.
From 2011 to 2014, some parts of the Greenway were closed. This was because the elevated BART tracks needed to be made stronger to protect them from earthquakes. This project was finished in 2014.
In 2018, an important link was completed. This connected the Ohlone Greenway from Baxter Creek to the new Richmond Greenway. The Richmond Greenway also uses an old Santa Fe railroad path and goes all the way to Point Richmond.
Images for kids
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Public sculpture along the Greenway dating from the People's Park annex period
