Rail Trail – Rail Runner Station and Pen Road

Santa Fe, New Mexico

The 17 mile Santa Fe Rail Trail follows the Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from El Dorado to the Railyard in downtown Santa Fe. It is a major non-motorized corridor across the city providing off-street bicyclist / pedestrian access to nearby neighborhoods and other trail networks. The Rail Runner Station and Pen Road project addresses a major missing link in the Rail Trail system, defining an off-road urban trail at the South Capital Rail Runner Station and along Pen Road. The design team worked closely with the city and NMDOT to install the pathway within the narrow railroad right-of-way while eliminating cross-traffic conflict between people traveling through the site on the trail and across the site from the station’s platform. The design solution also addresses off-site stormwater concerns coming from an adjacent parking lot.

A block north of the Rail Runner Station, the design team identified the Pen Road trail alignment parallel to the railroad tracks and separate from the road. By introducing curbed parking and landscape buffers, Design Office improved bicyclist / pedestrian safety along the pathway and improved the general quality of the existing undefined streetscape. A key component to the new streetscape included a series of landscaped bump-outs designed with depressed areas capable of holding and infiltrating approximately 1700 gallons of water each. Aesthetically integrated with the streetscape and trail, these water catchment basins may prove to be a useful design standard in future City streetscapes.

Team
HDR Engineering, civil engineering