East Bay Regional Park District Completes Tidal Marsh Boardwalk Elevation at Martinez Shoreline

Ecological restoration crews with the East Bay Regional Park District and the City of Martinez reopened the central marsh loop boardwalk at Radke Martinez Regional Shoreline on Friday morning, completing a $1.48 million climate-adaptation and tidal wetland enhancement north of Ferry Street and the Martinez Amtrak station. Over the past three winters, combination king tides and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta storm surges repeatedly submerged the low-lying wooden walkway along the Carquinez Strait, forcing multi-week trail closures. Engineers replaced 1,100 linear feet of waterlogged timber trestle with helical steel pilings and a fiberglass-reinforced light-penetrating deck elevated thirty inches above the 100-year high-tide line.

Because the open-grid decking allows 65 percent of natural sunlight to reach the marsh floor below, native alkali bulrush, tule reeds, and pickleweed can grow uninterrupted beneath the boardwalk without shading out foraging corridors for the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse and California Ridgway's rail. Alongside the structural work, hydrologists excavated two sinuous tidal slough channels across twelve acres of compacted former dredge-spoil fill near Alhambra Creek, restoring twice-daily brackish tidal exchange.

At the northern observation platform overlooking the Benicia-Martinez Bridge and the historic Carquinez Strait shipping channel, park craftsmen installed dual-height viewing scopes and bilingual interpretive signage detailing how coastal salt marshes sequester carbon up to ten times faster per acre than terrestrial forests. New benches and wheelchair passing bays were positioned every 250 feet along the level loop.

The $1.48 million project was financed through a San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Measure AA grant matched with East Bay Regional Park District Measure FF bond funds. Birdwatchers, anglers, and trail runners can check November king-tide naturalist walk schedules and waterfront parking access maps on the Radke Martinez Regional Shoreline Portal.