Whitewater Channel @ Vista Chino, 06-13-2011

The Coachella Valley has an underappreciated geological feature, the Whitewater Wash also known as the Whitewater Channel. It begins in the west at the Banning Pass above 2,000 feet and courses to the southeast dropping below sea level, where it joins another underappreciated geological feature, the Salton Sea, some 60 miles to the southeast.
Our valley is a basin that collects rain runoff from the slopes of the surrounding mountains all eventually draining into the Whitewater Channel. When the wash is running with water, it causes major traffic congestion. We spend a lot of money on it. We build bridges or we do road repair at every crossing. We’ve put golf courses in it that get washed out regularly. Berms line the waterway, protecting the neighborhoods that border it.
For additional cost, roughly equivalent to the cost of two of our current I-10 freeway upgrades and using existing berms, we could build a multi-use trail connecting Palm Springs and most other valley communities to the Salton Sea, a 50+ mile linear recreational park open to young and old using any and all forms of non-motorized transportation. With an interested public it could happen.