Grand opening of new 2.9-mile trail in Citrus Heights set for May

By Sara Beth Williams–
The City of Citrus Heights is inviting community members and neighbors to join in the grand opening for the new 2.9-mile Arcade-Cripple Creek Trail.

The event is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Sunday, May 5, at Tempo Park on Fair Oaks Boulevard and will begin with a short presentation and ribbon-cutting ceremony. The ceremony will be followed by a community “walk, bike and run” along the trail to C-Bar-C Park where a celebration is set to take place at 10:30 a.m.

The celebration at C-Bar-C Park will feature food and family friendly activities and guests are encouraged to explore the many access points of the trail.  A shuttle will be provided at C-Bar-C Park for guests who attend the ribbon cutting ceremony and leave cars at Tempo Park.

The newly constructed trail measures 2.9 miles and spans from Arcade Creek Park Preserve in the west to Wachtel Way in the east, crossing over Arcade and Cripple Creeks. The Arcade-Cripple Creek Trail travels through Mitchell Village Park before veering off to connect with the back of Tempo Park. The trail travels through six Citrus Heights parks and a small portion will travel through two parks in Orangevale. The City of Citrus Heights, Sunrise Recreation and Park District, Orangevale Recreation and Park District, San Juan Unified School District, Sacramento County, and SMUD have all partnered together throughout the project’s development and execution.

Locally, the trail will connect to other existing trails, including an existing one-third-mile walking and biking trail that runs through Arcade Creek Park Preserve. When counting the existing park preserve and new trail running through Mitchell Village, the total trail length is over four miles long,

The completion of the trail project is part of the City’s effort to “increase walkability, safety and provide improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists throughout a system of Creekside trails, passive open space, and parks.”

According to the city’s website, the City of Citrus Heights first began exploring the feasibility of a multi-use trail in 2014 and then adopted a Bikeway Master Plan in 2015, making the Arcade-Cripple Creek trail a priority project. The trail was also identified in the Sacramento County Bikeway Master Plan. Funding was acquired in 2017 and the project’s design phase began in 2018. Construction officially began on the trail in 2022 at Arcade Creek Park Preserve.

The Arcade-Cripple Creek trail is part of the Sacramento Area Council of Government (SACOG) Regional Trail Network and is anticipated to be a step in a regional plan to ultimately connect to the American River Parkway.