Ohlone Greenway

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Public art along the Ohlone Greenway: sculpture by the path in Berkeley.

The Ohlone Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle path in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The path is named for the Ohlone Indians who originally lived in the area.

It begins in Berkeley at the east end of Ohlone Park located at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Hearst Avenue. From there, it runs westward to the west end of the park at Sacramento and Delaware. In the segment around the North Berkeley BART Station (one block west on Delaware to Acton, then one block north on Acton to Virginia), the bike path becomes a street-running bike lane.

At Virginia, the path resumes its own dedicated course just northwest of the North Berkeley BART station and runs northwestward through the cities of Albany, and El Cerrito, terminating at San Pablo Avenue at Baxter Creek Gateway Park in Richmond.

For most of its length, the Ohlone Greenway runs along what was formerly a railroad right of way, and alongside the elevated tracks of the BART Richmond line. For most of this stretch, the Greenway is divided into two paths, one for pedestrians, the other for bicyclists. The segment from the North Berkeley BART station to Rose Street in north Berkeley was formerly the right of way of the Key System's "G" Westbrae line. The segment from Rose to just past the El Cerrito del Norte BART station station was formerly the right of way of the Santa Fe Railroad. For about six years, from 1973-79, it was possible to see both a BART train and a Santa Fe freight train alongside each other (the BART train above) in the right of way which became the Ohlone Greenway.

In late 2006, a portion of what will eventually become a branch of the Ohlone Greenway in Berkeley south to University Avenue using another segment of the old Santa Fe right-of-way was opened between University and Delaware. The last segment between Cedar Rose Park and Delaware remains an undeveloped dirt right-of-way blocked by a fence at Cedar pending the acquisition of funding. In November of 2007, the City of Berkeley approved the use of the old Santa Fe right-of-way south of University, extending the Ohlone Greenway branch about two blocks to Strawberry Creek Park. ^[1]

Work is underway to extend the Greenway west from the terminus at Baxter Creek to unite with the new Richmond Greenway running along the abandoned former right of way of the SFRR to the Point Richmond neighborhood in western Richmond.