The shoulder on Highway 255 is narrow. It’s not impossible to bike or run on, but the proximity to speeding cars is nerve-wracking. The rewards, should the intrepid decide to make the journey out to Samoa, are proportionate to the risk: big dunes, unique trails, miles of beaches. But, soon-ish, the danger may be no more. 

Arcata’s trying to get the ball rolling on constructing a trail out to Mad River Slough, on the Samoa Peninsula. It’s long been the plan to connect the Great Redwood Trail to the peninsula on the old railroad bed, and now the Great Redwood Trail Agency has the money. The GRTA was allocated $100 million from California’s Proposition 4 Climate Bond in 2024, with the requirement that half of it be spent on the trail. $10 million is going to planning, design, and construction in North Coast counties. The agency received the funds in June, and must be spent by the end of 2029. On Wednesday, the Arcata City Council will decide if they’d like to try and get a piece of it.

If City Hall is successful, the trail will be completed in two segments. First, a spur connector through western Arcata using the GRTA’s right-of-way that connects to the Humboldt Bay Trail will be constructed, and then it’ll be ran out two and a half miles to Manila.

Arcata would be responsible for heading the project. According to the staff report, the city had been focusing on securing funding for just the first phase, but the agency informed city staff that its board would be more likely to approve the city’s funding application if it agreed to take the lead and collaborate with the GRTA on extending the trail to Manila. The GRTA would still be in charge of maintaining the segment.

“The proposed project directly reflects these community-driven priorities,” reads the report, “and builds upon a shared vision for a more connected and accessible Arcata.”

The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment.