New pedestrian, bike overpass on Hwy. 50 represents ‘freedom’ in West Sacramento
West Sacramento officials extolled a $16 million pedestrian and cyclist overpass that now connects neighborhoods straddling the Highway 50 portion of the Capital City Freeway at the project’s ribbon cutting Thursday.
Mayor Martha Guerrero, Councilmember Quirina Orozco and Capital Projects Department Acting Director Jai Chahal sang the praises of the bridge, which arcs over freeway traffic speeding between Harbor Boulevard and Jefferson Boulevard. The Sycamore Trail Overpass is the capstone of a nearly two-mile pedestrian and cyclist trail through the city. The bridge was funded by about $10 million in grants from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments and the California Natural Resources Agency, and, Chalal said, the city itself kicked in $6 million to “leverage the heck out of our funding.”
Everyone, he said, was delighted to see the project realized.
But it’s possible that no one at the ceremony was more excited than Tony Lopez, 84, who grew up in West Sacramento and lives on the north side of the freeway that slices through the city. The retired construction worker who spent decades in the Laborers International Union now relies on a motorized wheelchair to get around.
“I don’t drive,” he said. He gestured at the overpass and grinned. “Now with this, it helps me out a lot. I can go visit my friends that are still around. It makes it easy on me.”
Lopez had just zipped over the bridge — with “City of West Sacramento” emblazoned above the eight lanes of traffic — as part of a procession from south to north, one of dozens of people led by the eight members of the River City Regiment Drumline. River City High School is on the south side of Highway 50. From the podium on the south side of the overpass, Orozco told the crowd she was excited that more students could travel to school without having to drive — or, more likely, be driven.
She referenced a River City High student in the crowd who could now travel to school without a vehicle, and his siblings, who would be able to walk to Westmore Oaks Elementary School, which is just a few blocks away from the overpass.
“You know who else gets affected? Their mother, who is wrangling up all the kids in the morning,” she said. “You guys all know — if you’re parents — what that morning routine looks like. But no longer, because these kids get a chance to take themselves to their destination.”
She said that the bridge represented “the freedom of our neighbors.” After he crossed the overpass on his scooter, Lopez echoed her sentiment, saying this piece of infrastructure opens up possibilities for him
The officials addressed the crowd while eight lanes of freeway traffic roared behind them. It had taken more than a decade to arrive at that Thursday morning, and it took the drumline seven minutes to march across. The mayor said that it “moves us towards a more sustainable future.” By giving cyclists and pedestrians a safe way to cross Highway 50, Guerrero said, West Sacramento would eliminate car trips and improve neighborhood connections.
Chalal put it slightly differently.
“We are not just growing,” he said. “We are growing with purpose.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2025 at 2:20 PM.
CORRECTION: A photo caption incorrectly indicated the side of the pedestrian bridge on which Tony Lopez resides.
