Significant Points in the History of Trestle Rehabilitation
Trestle Extravaganza stage, circa 1990
1990 - 1996 | For six years in the 1990s Chris Sampson and Chris Stevick organized the Trestle Extravaganza, to raise awareness of the Trestle, its state of disrepair and possibilities for its reuse. Over the years 50 different artists came to perform in the Railway Museum's yellow barn. |
This is a list of the most Significant Points in this extensive online History of the Petaluma Trestle. Every item in this list of Significant Points has a "Source Material" button that can be clicked on to quickly take you to more details about specific items, without having to scroll through all of the related reports, relevant council meetings, emails, staff letters, news articles, alternative plans and their estimates, historic structure studies, pictures and videos which are listed in chronological order. Click the "Source Material" button in the right-hand column to go directly to more about the topic. If you want to search within a particular time period use the links at the bottom of this page.
| Date | Item | DIRECT LINKS |
| 1992 | Video of last freight train to use the trestle. A successful 200 ton load test. |   |
| 7/25/97 | Article - Argus-Courier | |
| 1/2/02 | Letter listing advantages of saving the trestle by Chris Stevick | |
| 1/28/02 | Archaeological Services established the trestle's historic significance | |
| 1/29/02 | CSW[st]2 Engineering assumes that the trestle's piles are too far gone to repair | |
| 2003 | The Petaluma Specific Plan designates $500,000 to saving the trestle | |
| 3/21/03 | Archaeological Services determines the trestle is within the Downtown Historic District | |
| 3/9/04 | CSW[st]2 writes to Paul Marangella confirming his request that all designs for rehabilitating the trestle must include the demolition of the existing structure. |
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| 8/4/04 | Argus Courier article quotes Marangella "the trestle is too far gone to restore" | |
| 10/12/05 | Argus Courier article discloses that Paul Marangella has resigned after $4.8 million in redevelopment overruns were revealed | |
| 5/31/06 | Chris Stevick advocates for an Historic Structural Report (HSR) for the trestle. The City Council unanimously resolves to begin the HSR process. |  |
| 11/22/06 | Marianne Hurley reviews the RFP for the HSR and urges consideration of the trestle as an historic resource by CEQA standards | |
| 1/10/08 | Paul Siri of State Coastal Conservancy (SCC) proposes possible grant for trestle renovation | |
| 1/30/08 | Argus-Courier publishes poll showing 90% of respondents approve of trestle renovation. The highest percentage of positive responses in the history of Argus-Courier polls. | |
Banner displayed at the Railway Museum yellow barn, 2006 to 2010
| Early 2009 | Pam Torliatt reveals that executives of the State Coastal Conservancy (SCC) were pleased by the way that Petaluma's Specific Plan led to the development of the Theater District | |
| 4/20/09 | Presenting to City Council, Chris Stevick says the SCC is interested in funding the engineering and design necessary for renovating the trestle | |
| 12/6/10 | City accepts two-phase SCC Grant for trestle rehabilitation. Phase 1 Design, Phase 2 Construction | |
| Feb. 2011 | City chooses Winzler & Kelly to execute the Trestle Design, despite their lack of experience with railroads or historic structures | |
| 2/16/11 | Presenting to the Recreation, Music And Parks Commission, Chris Stevick advocates for saving the trestle | |
| 2/27/11 | Diane Ramirez (Capital Improvements Project Manager) shares the schedule listing milestones required by the SCC Grant with Chris Stevick | |
| 11/1/11 | Chris Stevick protests to council members Barrett and Healy that stakeholders were never invited to participate in planning the trestle rehab rehabilitation as required by SCC | |
| 12/14/11 | Stakeholders get first look at the three alternative plans prepared by W&K for trestle rehabilitation (with no stakeholder input): Alternative 1: Ugly, Alternative 2: Impractical, Alternative 3: Requires total demolition | |
| 2/6/12 | At City Council meeting, Chris Stevick convinces Council to reject Alt 3 (trestle demolition and replacement, preferred by staff) and resolves to support Alt 1 (trestle rehabilitation preserving intact existing materials) | |
| 8/16/12 | Staff comes up with version E of Alt 1 that includes use of steel Helical Torc-piles (screw piles) without mentioning that it will require removing the entire super-structure to install them. | |
| Oct. 2012 | Winzler & Kelly are bought out by GHD engineering. |
3/10/14 | Railway Museum volunteers prepared signs for the "This Place Matters" event and displayed them along the dock in front of the Trestle. |  |
| 12/02/16 | Benefits of Multiple Matching Funds for the Water St. Trestle | |
| 10/4/17 | Video: Katherine Rinehart (local historian) vs. Mark Hulbert (architectural historian hired by G & K). She says Trestle has historic significance, he says it doesn't. | |
| 3/23/19 | Video: In 1994 a 200-ton train rolled on the Trestle over the so-called "global failure zone", successfully carrying 10 x the load required by a promenade (sufficient to support a crowd of humans). | |
| 3/1/20 | Petaluma city website states "Reviving the historic trestle will breathe new life into the downtown area and will revitalize the Petaluma River Turning Basin Area." and designating it as a high priority. Christopher Bolt is listed as Project Manager and Public Works Department Rep. (Two years later in the City video of the Budget Workshop, 5/8/23, Chris Bolt said, "the Trestle is my favorite project") | |
| 3/21/20 | Video: Chris Stevick and Petaluma Pete explaining why the Trestle should be saved. | |
| 10/19/20 | Argus-Courier article: "Turn Attention to Fixing Trestle" By Matt Reischling | |
| 11/21/20 | Video: Chris Stevick's Petaluma Trestle Facts - (Aka: The Living Room Presentation) | |
| 5/1/21 | Video: Petaluma River Promenade Event - Former Congress member Lynn Woolsey, Petaluma Mayor Teresa Barrett, and Downtown Association Director Marie McCusker, advocate for Trestle restoration | |
| 9/20/21 |  Aerial view of future Trestle Promenade by Elly Lichtenstein | |
| 5/11/22 | Video: John Ramos reporting on push to save the old Petaluma train Trestle, transforming it into a riverfront promenade | |
| 6/7/22 |  | Brayton and Nitzberg's rendering of Trestle as “River Promenade” . Commissioned by Chris Stevick. | |
| 9/23/22 | Chris and Elaine Stevick meet with Christopher Bolt (Director of Public Works) to discuss the fate of the Trestle | | |
1/19/23 | Chistopher Bolt and Chris Stevick at the Trestle. Christopher Bolt, Project Manager for Trestle Rehabilitation said, "the Trestle is my favorite project" |  | |
| 7/14/23 | Porter & Associates submits “Wood Condition Assessment of the Petaluma Trestle, Petaluma, California”, which shows that a greater portion of wood components of the Trestle are fit to remain in service than previously reported. | | |
| 5/24/24 | Article in South Sonoma County Life Blog: “Good News on the Trestle”by Frances Rivetti | | |
| 5/9/25 | Foth Engineering and Design prepares the "Petaluma Trestle Renovation – Design Concept Options Analysis – Final" for Petaluma Public Works Dept
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| 3/31/26 | Article by Frances Rivetti (from Frances Rivetti Reports) 'The Structure That Refuses to Let Us Forget'
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| 5/11/26 | Local preservationists meet with DENSO representative, Jacob Anderson, at the Petaluma Trestle to discuss non-destructive pile repair methods. | |
| 5/20/26 | Article in the Argus-Courier - 'Petaluma renews effort to restore downtown trestle'
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| 5/28/26 | "Petaluma Trestle Promenade Now" Community Kickoff Event
Direct Link to FAQ Page on the "Petaluma Trestle Promenade Now" website | |
| 6/9/26 | Article in the Argus-Courier - 'Trestle renovation effort gains steam'
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| 8/8/26 | Article in the Press Democrat - 'Trestle restoration gaining fiscal steam'
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| 9/11/26 | Letter to Argus Courier Editor from 'Petaluma Trestle Promenade Now Steering Committee' | |
TRESTLE HISTORY
A complete timeline of the attempts to rehabilitate the Petaluma Railroad Trestle
including openable relevant documents, videos, and pictures from 1992 to the present.