a rincónvenient truth: dispelling the myths

It is not a trail - It is a road!

2007-07-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

Forget calling it a trail.

The so-called "Rincón Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail" is a 4.25 meter (14 foot) wide paved surface with a guardrail on one side and a 5 ft. high chain link fence on the other.

By any other name, it is a road.

Municipal roads in Rincón are 4 meters wide.

A typical cross section.

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Many sections will be built adjacent to the beach

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Sunset Village next to Balneario

Along the RMTP:

“Aqui se mantiene en todo momento bordeando la parte interior de la delimitación de la zona marítimo terrestres por un trayecto de approximadamente 780 metros.” -- Memorial Explativo, DTOP, JUNE 23, 2006

Playa Marias/Pistons

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The "road" will be built in two phases

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The road will be built in 2 phases.

Phase 1 (2007/2008) will go from the Balneario to the Dome.

Phase 2 which would connect Puntas to Pueblo and includes the Domes Trail might be built at some future date.

The single most useful part of the project, the re-opening of the Domes trail, is relegated to the second phase – to be completed when and if funds are available. The price tag of $15 million for the first phase (Domes to town) is for an environmentally damaging project that will cause more problems than it is meant to solve.

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The road will harm or destroy beaches, habitat, beach access and water quality

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The "road" will harm or destroy beaches

Because the project is planned too close to the beach it will require coastal armoring.

Wherever this road is by the beach, it is to be built on gabions or a gabion reinforced seawall! Considering all the problems Rincón has had with beach erosion, this type of design is guaranteed to make it worse. Look at the Balneario. No gabion built structure has ever lasted more than a few years on Rincón's beaches. When they fail, it means rocks and metal on our beaches and in our swimming water. Go and look for yourselves.

From Living with the Puerto Rico Shore David M. Bush et. Al, 1995: A 'gabion' seawall built at the Balneario "(the wrong choice for the wrong reason)." - quoted excerpt from pg. 103.

The engineering of this project uses technology that WILL FAIL. Failed gabions create a hazard for beach users. At Rincon's balneario you are no longer allowed to swim because of the hazardous conditions.

The "road" will harm or destroy habitat

The designers ignored this recommendation and planned sections of the path at the shoreline.

The seawall road will actively damage the Tres Palmas Marine Reserve.

The "road" will harm or destroy beach access

By including fences, guardrails and seawalls and bridges will eliminate beach access in many places.

Want to go to the beach? No problem. Just climb the chain link fence, cross the path, hop over the guard rail and jump down from the seawall.

The Step Bridge:

At Steps Beach the project will eliminate the parking and severely limit beach access by crossing the beach with a low bridge.

The 4 ft. high wooden bridge by Steps Beach that goes through the protected mangroves will block access to the beach.

The "road" will degrade water quality

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This trail failed to include public input, lacks integration with municipal projects, is overbuilt and outrageously expensive.

2007-07-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

Failed to include adequate public input

Click here to read the Planning Board resolution on the project

Lacks integration with other municipal projects

The project designers and the Municipal government failed to integrate this following projects into the design of the bike path, wasting tax payer dollars.

Ojo del Agua Parking: $500,000
Plaza de la Amistad: $730,000
El Faro & Lighthouse renovations: $2,000,000
Plaza del Mercado: $1,500,000

El Nuevo Dia story summarizing project costs (pdf file)

Fails to consider existing uses

The project is overbuilt

At Pools Beach, the project includes an elevated bridge and a massive cement structure on the sand. Is this how the project should integrate with Pools beach?

At Playa Marias the plan include two "plazoletas", a bridge over Quebrada Piletas and a road along the beach.

The project is outrageously expensive

Cost: $17.3 million dollars = $5.1 million/mile

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The Solution

2007-07-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

Go back to the drawing board immediately - create a sensible redesign

Make it a path; not a road

Move the Path back to the old Train Right of Way (see map below)

Scale it down & Set it back from the beach and Reserva Marina Tres Palmas

Eliminate the extraneous elements of the path (fences, guardrails, gabions, seawalls, whale observation tower, plazoletas)

Integrate the bike path with other Municipal projects including Ojo del Agua Parking, Plaza de la Amistad, El Faro / Lighthouse renovations, the Plaza del Mercados and the Public Plaza and Alcaldia Renovations.

Give Rincóeños a voice - Public Hearings and Input

View Larger Map

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What you can do...

2007-07-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

The proposed bike path is not the real challenge. It can and should be made a workable project.

The real problem is the processes and assumptions that created this version in the first place: the continued addiction of government agencies to the concept that “bigger is better”, the municipal habit of outsourcing its planning to people who don’t know anything about Rincón, the lack of intra-agency communication and the attitude that the public’s opinions and ideas are not required after they vote.

This is surely an area where our opinions matter. These beaches belong to the people of Rincón. We should raise our voices if they are threatened by developers or the government.

Call, write or visit the "owners" of this project:

Send a Fax. Urge Mayor Carlos Lopez, Governor Acevedo Vila, the Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration to redesign the bike path with community input.

Click here to send a fax.

Use these links to send a personal letter:

Click here to download a sample letter for Rincón residents (Word document)

Click here to download a sample letter for non-residents who visit Rincón (Word document)

Municipality of Rincón
Honorable Carlos López Bonilla
Alcalde
PO Box 97
Rincon, PR 00677

Tel: (787) 823-2575
Fax 787-823-3240

PR Department of Transportation (DTOP)
Ing. Carlos González Miranda
Secretary & Executive Director
Centro Gubernamental Minillas
PO Box 42007
San Juan, PR 00940-2007

tel: 787-723-1390
fax: 787-725-1620

Email: cjgonzalez@act.dtop.gov.pr
Website: www.dtop.gov.pr

Federal Highway Administration
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands Division Office
Roberto Fonseca
Acting Division Administrator
Federal Highway Adminstration
350 Ave Carlos Chardon Suite 210
San Juan PR 00918-2148

tel:(787) 766-5600 ext. 223
fax: (787) 766-5924

Email: roberto.fonseca@fhwa.dot.gov

Governor of Puerto Rico
Honorable Aníbal Acevedo Vilá
PO Box 9020082 
San Juan PR 00902-0082

Tel: (787) 721-7000
Fax: (787) 721-1472
E-mail: portal@ogp.gobierno.pr

Also please join the Surfrider Foundation to help us oppose this project.

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More Information

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Click on links below to download the Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) document:

Bike Path Plans - June 2006 (~10 MB)

DTOP Executive Summary of Project - June 2006 (~10MB)

Planning Board Resolution on Project - December 2006 (~7 MB)

DRNA endorsement of Project - October 2006
(~1 MB)

PR Coastal Program compatibility statement on Project - October 2006 (~1 MB)

Surfrider Foundation Bike Path Comment Letter -March 19, 2004

Surfrider Foundation & Sea Grant PR Bike Path Comment Letter -September 25, 2007

Reserva Marina Tres Palmas Comité Tímon Bike Path Comment Letter -September 25, 2007 (~1.9 MB)

USFWS Endangered Species Act Section 7 Consultation

Surfrider Foundation Additional Comments - January 2008

2003 Environmental Assessment:
Body of Report (~28 MB)
Maps (~12 MB)
Appendices (~17 MB)

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