Stevens Creek Trail Status

Mountain View Status

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Existing Trail

The six-mile segment within Mountain View, with many underpasses and an overpass, is estimated to have cost over $12 million. The city has obtained the majority of this funding and completed the fourth trail section in 2002. With that completion, the Trail extends from the Bay, under Highway 101, under Middlefield Rd., over Central Expressway, past Landel's School and over Highway 237 to Yuba Drive - off El Camino by AutoNation BMW and Mini.

Reach 4 Segment 2

The final Mountain View section, Reach 4 Segment 2, is a planned 1.7 mile segment to stretch from Yuba Drive to Mountain View High School near the Los Altos-Mountain View border. A feasibility study was been completed to evaluate this section and was approved by City Council on June 27, 2001. A draft Environmental Impact Report has also been prepared and was presented to the Mountain View City Council in August 2002 - over 250 comments received! The final EIR adjusted the design to mitigate any significant environmental impacts. This was approved by Mtn. View City Council on June 22, 2004. Funding, design and construction in 4 pieces, as discussed below.

Yuba Drive to El Camino and Tunnel under El Camino (Project 04-40):

Paving is expected during February '08, weather permitting. The segment is expected to be completed with a grand opening in Spring/Late Spring '08. There will be access to the trail from the south side of El Camino, with fencing blocking users from going further south (towards Sleeper). The tunnel under El Camino has lighting, and will be slightly wider than other parts of the trail.

El Camino to Sleeper (Phase I):

This phase is fully funded (design & construction). Design is 65% complete, and construction is expected to begin in Summer '08. The original EIR needs to be "tweaked", as the prefabricated steel bridge from the Sleeper access point is going to be a bit further north than in the original EIR. The bridge remains in the same general area (Sleeper Open Space), but moves from a section of land owned by the Santa Clara Valley Water District to land owned by the City of Mtn View. Phase I construction should take one year, and be complete by Summer '09. Concurrent with the year of construction, design for Phase II will commence.

Sleeper over Hwy85 to Dale/Heatherstone (Phase II):

This is fully funded for design, but still needs $7.1M of funding for construction If the design phase goes smoothly and funding secured, construction could start in Summer '09, with completion in Summer '10. One open issue has to do with PG&E power lines. Quoting directly from the Civil Engineer's report,

"The Phase II alignment over Hwy 85 is undergoing alternative alignment analysis and detailed refinement. PG&E owns and operates a series of transmission towers and overhead electrical wires along the Stevens Creek corridor that are posing a challenge. The proposed location of the pedestrian bridge over Hwy 85 is situated in a tight location where the vertical and horizontal placement of the structure must satisfy PG&E and PUC minimum wire clearance requiremen ts.&nb sp; PG&E is scheduling their crews to complete a field survey of the vertical distance between their transmission wires and the ground. Once PG&E transmits the survey data to the City, a computer analysis will determine where best to fit the pedestrian overcrossing..."

Heatherstone/Dale to MV High:

Current cost estimate is approximately $13M. It is not scheduled or funded at this time.

Moffett Pedestrian Crossing (Project 04-33):

This project is expected to be out for bidding during March '08, with June '08 being the target date for a construction contract. The construction is expected to take 1 year, during which time there will be a trail detour.

More Information?

Want to hear the latest from us? Sign up on our Mountain View email alert list to receive email when a signficant event will be happening. For specific information about the trail in Mountain View,call the Mountain View Public Works Department at (650) 903-6311. Also, MV Parks and Rec maintains a Trail Closure Hotline at 650-903-6072, a recorded announcement with up-to-date info, especially during storm conditions that might necessitate a closure.

Cupertino Status

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For the latest from Cupertino themselves, check the Cupertino Stevens Creek Trail website. The quick summary is that the Stevens Creek Trail is proceeding along 2 different fronts in Cupertino at the same time.

One section is in Rancho San Antonio park. This work is actually being done by Santa Clara County Parks, so read about it below.

The other section is between Stevens Creek Blvd. and McClellan Road. The work on this is first to restore the creek close to its original streambed before Blackberry Farm was constructed. This is a longer meandering path so that rip-rap and other erosion controls will no longer be needed. Following this restoration, the trail can be built.

Want to hear the latest from us? Sign up on our Cupertino email alert list to receive email when a signficant event will be happening.

Sunnyvale Status

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Stevens Creek, east of Hwy 85, is the border between Sunnyvale and Mountain View. The section of the Trail on the Sunnyvale-Mountain View border will be constructed entirely within Mountain View. Access from Sunnyvale to the trail in Mountain View has yet to be proposed or discussed. In 1994, Sunnyvale City Council decided that it would not pursue any creek-side trail of its own.

Further south, west of Hwy 85, Stevens Creek is the border between Sunnyvale and Los Altos. Los Altos is conducting a Feasibility Study of this area to see how it might link the Cupertino and Mountain View portions of the trail, but it is not considering any creek-side trail alignment on private land.

Sunnyvale continues to wait to see how the trail develops in the neighboring cities. Property lines in south of Fremont Avenue extend all the way to the center of the creek, so there is no public land adjacent to the creek to run a trail. Instead, a "Street Alignment" could be proposed. Thus, a bike lane or bike route might be the only option to connect between the trail segments in neighboring cities.

Los Altos Status

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Perhaps motivated by a $5,000 contribution from the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail, Los Altos provided $20,000 in matching funds to secure a VTA grant for $80,000 towards a Stevens Creek Trail feasibility study. This began in May 2006. The money is paying for a consultant, Alta Planning, to study the area. Two community meetings have been held.

The first comunity meeting, held in May 2007, gathered ideas from the public about what they would like to see in a trail, where they would like to go, and concerns about a trail in their neighborhood.

The second comunity meeting, held in December 2007, shared with the public 5 possible trail alignments and gathered public opinion about each - both pro and con. The public was also asked to vote for their favorite alignment. The Feasibility Study will conclude with a final report from the consultant and a recommendation. This is expected in Spring 2008.

Santa Clara County

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In the county, most of the Trail between Stevens Creek County Park (if that link doesn't work, start here ) and the top of the Santa Cruz Mountains is well-defined and partly completed. There are multiuse trails suitable for hikers, bikers, and equestrians.

One section being developed is in Rancho San Antonio where the Stevens Creek Trail is being routed alongside Permanente Creek from the most southern parking lot and the Hammond-Snyder historical house. Until some time as an easement across the Union Pacific Railroad Tracks is granted, this trail will simply be known as the "Hammond-Snyder Loop Trail". Another possible connection may be made off California Oak Way, since there is an existing RR crossing there for access to the PG&E facility.

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