Lafayette has landed $3.7 million in new state funding to help build a major new segment of the long-planned Aqueduct Pathway — a fully separated walking and biking trail designed to give residents a safer, car-free way to get through downtown and reach BART.
The city said the new money will help fund the section between Dolores Drive and the Lafayette BART station, closing what officials describe as a key gap in the local active transportation network.
The funding comes through California’s 2026 State Transportation Improvement Program, which the California Transportation Commission adopted in March. In the commission’s adopted program, the “Downtown Lafayette Aqueduct Pathway” appears as a new Lafayette active transportation project with $3.737 million programmed in the 2029-30 fiscal year. (California Transportation Commission)
The Aqueduct Pathway is planned within the existing East Bay Municipal Utility District corridor that runs through Lafayette roughly parallel to Mt. Diablo Boulevard, BART, and Highway 24. When fully built, the city says it is intended to create a continuous multi-use route linking neighborhoods, downtown Lafayette, and regional transit without forcing people onto some of the area’s busiest roads.
For Lafayette residents, the Dolores Drive-to-BART segment could be especially significant. City officials say that stretch would make it easier and safer to get to BART, local businesses, schools, and other everyday destinations on foot or by bike, while supporting first- and last-mile access as more housing is added downtown. Construction on that segment is currently anticipated to begin in 2029.
This is not the first piece of the larger pathway to move forward. A western segment between Risa Road and Dolores Drive opened in 2025 and is already in use, according to the city. Lafayette also says design work is underway for the next phase extending east toward Pleasant Hill Road, backed in part by a previously secured $300,000 Metropolitan Transportation Commission grant for design assistance.
The city has made clear that the Aqueduct Pathway is part of a broader effort to reshape access around downtown and the BART station. Lafayette’s separate BART Bike Station/Pathway Project is already under construction, with the city saying work started in March 2026 and is expected to wrap up by the end of summer…