Construction has begun on access to Stevens Creek Trail from the north side of El Camino Real. Ever since the trail crossed under El Camino Real, trail users have been puzzled why they can't get to the trail from the north side of the road without traveling a block over and 3 blocks down Yuba Drive. Soon they will be able to get on the trail as easily as they do on the south side.

The answer to the puzzle has been "an easement". Meaning, the city had no land on which to put such access. But after long negotiations, they worked out a deal with the 2 hotel owners to extend their parking lot sidewalk out to the street and add a connection from that sidewalk to the trail.

I have put together a number of pictures to show the status, just 4 days into the project. Check it out!

Mountain View is making great progress towards adding access to Stevens Creek Trail from the north side of El Camino Real. They have advertised the job and will be opening the bids in December and then construction is scheduled to begin January 2013 and be completed February 2013.

Currently, there is direct access on the south side of El Camino Real, but people on the north side need to travel a block over and 3 blocks up Yuba Drive to get on the trail - a substantial way out of their way if they are trying to head south on the trail. It also adds a nice amenity for people staying at one of the two hotels located there on El Camino Real.

The first Stevens Creek Trail Study Public Meeting has been scheduled for November 14 at 7 P.M. to be held at Grant Park Center in Los Altos.

This is a chance for members of the public to provide their input on what they want from the trail. Where should it go? What should it connect to? How will they use it? All of this will steer the Feasibility Study now getting started to look at how to complete the trail between Mountain View and Cupertino through Sunnyvale and/or Los Altos.

Check out the official website for the Feasibility Study for more details.

The Four Cities (Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, and Cupertino) Working Group was formed a couple years ago to look at possible routes to connect the five miles of Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View with the 0.7 miles in Cupertino. The Working Group consists of a City Councilmember and a staff member from each city, plus a representative from the Water District and County Parks.

Sunnyvale is the lead agency, and has awarded a contract to Jana Sokale Environmental Planning to organize and run a Feasibility Study, which will feature public meetings to present alternatives and solicit input from the public. The Working Group decided to form a Citizens Working Group consisting of two or possibly three residents of each city to assist in preparing for the public meetings. A more complete description of the responsibilities, along with the application form, is on the Sunnyvale web site at http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/Departments/PublicWorks/StevensCreekTrailJointCitiesFeasibilityStudy.aspx .

The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail encourages trail supporters from all the cities to consider applying for this important job. Applications are due to the City of Sunnyvale Department of Pubic Works no later than September 28th at 5 p.m., so if you are interested, don't delay!

This tip comes in from a Mountain View neighbor...

As someone who rides/races in endurance events, I have a fair amount of experience in road behavior and road errors on a bicycle, having committed and seen my share. So I was very pleased yesterday to see a beautiful family of four riding on Covington approaching Grant Road, all wearing helmets (it is nice to see parents sending the message that helmets are for safety not just because the law says so) and riding on the right side of the road. They approached the red light and stopped, and here is where everything kind of fell apart.

Instead of staying on the right side of the road and waiting for the traffic signal to turn green, they waited at the crosswalk. So now they changed from being cyclists sharing the road with other vehicles to being pedestrians. However, when the light turned green, with the crosswalk signal still red, they rode across the road in the crosswalk. So now they were neither really acting as cyclists nor pedestrians and the cars coming from the new development wanting to turn left on to Grant had no idea what was going on. A very dangerous situation where everyone wasn’t sure what to do next.

Turns out it is illegal to ride a bike in a crosswalk for this very reason.

So please, if you are going to use the crosswalk, walk your bike and wait for the crossing signal. If you are going to ride, then ride as if you were sharing the road...outside of the crosswalk. You may think it is safer riding in a crosswalk, but in fact it is much more dangerous.

I thought I would share with the hope that someone will not get hurt in the future.

	ALERT! Bay Trail Closure From Crittenden Lane Bridge While this isn't a closure of the Stevens Creek Trail itself, since many people do access the Bay Trail from Stevens Creek Trail, we thought you should know about it. Both the Crittenden Lane Bridge and the 2nd bridge about 1/2 mile north will both be closed, as well as the Bay Trail north of Moffett Field and the trail out to the bay on the east bank of Stevens Creek from Monday, August 20 to Friday, August 24th. View the closure flyer here, showing a map of the closed area: Closure Flyer.
The Moffett Field Sediment Removal crew needs to close these bridges and portion of the Bay Trail for a week to move some dirt. Work will start at 6:30 a.m. and should conclude by 3:30 p.m. each day. If orange construction fencing isn't blocking your way, you may consider the trail open.

	ALERT! Stevens Creek Trail Closure at Central Expressway Bridge The city of Mountain View has issued an advisory that the trail will be closed this week at the Central Expressway Bridge. The work is to replace the decaying wooden landings at each end of the bridge with new concrete landings. The work is expected to be completed by the end of the day on Friday, August 17th 2012.
Read the full advisory here, including maps indicating the closure area and suggested detour. That map is hard to read, but it essentially tells you to detour to Castro street using Central Avenue and Evelyn and/or Dana streets to get there and back. To help, we have replicated that map in Google Maps: Click here to view that map in a new window. While this closure may inconvenience many of us, and the detour is rather circuitous, it will be well worth it to have a solid and stable surface at those bridge U-turns in place before the rainy weather returns.

Permanente Creek Trail Bridge and Tunnel Opening - Tuesday 12 June 2012 at 2:00 p.m.
The city of Mountain View has issued an open invitation to come celebrate the opening of the new Permanente Creek Trail bridge over Highway 101 on Tuesday 12 June 2012 at 2:00 p.m. This new section of trail actually starts with a new tunnel under Old Middlefield Road and then continues with the bridge over 101 that joins to the exisiting Permanente Creek Trail that continues out to Shoreline Park.

Read the full invitation here for more information that includes a map for where to meet.

Here are a couple pictures showing progress being made on the new highway 85 overpass that will connect Dale Ave and Heatherstone way to the existing end of the trail at Sleeper Avenue.

Dale Ave & Heatherstone Way ramp panorama
or
the Sleeper Ave side ramp

During the winter rains of March 2011, the rushing Stevens Creek washed away about 15 feet of its 30 foot high banks behind 3 mobile homes north of El Camino Real within the Sahara Mobile Village as reported by ABC news. It has taken until now to get the approvals to do repair work, as reported by the Mountain View Voice.

Since the banks are covered with poison oak and are steep and eroding cliffs, they are wisely roped off with caution tape, keeping trail users safely away. So, we bring you this photo collection to satisfy your curiosity about what is going on.
Check out a SLIDE SHOW here!

Yes, it is true! Google Maps now support bicycling and show bike trails (including the Stevens Creek Trail, of course) as well as bike lanes and bike routes. To see these features highlighted, just click the "More" button at the top-right of the map window and check "bicycling". To get bicycling directions, just select "bicycling" from the pull-down menu when entering your destination.

Read the full details of it on the Google Blog .

Hi everyone -

Saturday June 13 was a great day for Stevens Creek Trail with two dedications, first the Moffett overpass and then the Sleeper Avenue Extension. It was an excited and friendly crowd in attendance, I’m guessing somewhere between 100 and 150 people. Everything went fine at both locations and in-between. Weather started out a bit threatening but then became quite nice. All seven city council members attended, plus city manager Kevin Duggin, city staffers who played key roles in the projects, Sunnyvale council member Chris Moylan, and Water District rep Patrick Kwok. Live musical entertainment was provided by the city at Sleeper, along with light refreshments and commemorative water bottles. We distributed bike bells with our logo on them.

Kevin talked about how long this great trail project has been going on and how these two new additions are so key to it. The Moffett overpass now makes it safe to cross a busy and hazardous intersection. The Sleeper addition brings the trail to a whole new part of the city. Kevin also said final funding is secured for the next trail segment over highway 85 and it will progress soon – very exciting news!

Thank you to our board members and volunteers who made this a safe and fun event: Walk leaders Alan, Art, Garth and Marianne; Bicycle leads Billy, John, and Roy; and Safety riders Fritz and Kathy. Another big thank you goes to our volunteer of the year Randy Rhody, who continues to earn our gratitude and respect with his fine photo record of Saturday’s dual dedication events! Use the link below, then click on the slideshow button, upper right.

The San Jose Mercury News did a nice article on the event that you can Read Here. Or, check out a nice slide show of the day's events taken by one of our supporters at his SlideShow site.

The New Moffett Overpass

Happy Trails!

Mountain View has announced that a celebation event is planned for June 13th. This will celebrate both the opening of the new bridge over Moffett Blvd. as well as the trail extension from El Camino Real to Sleeper Ave.

The festivities will begin near Moffett Blvd with a bridge dedication from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Then attendees are encouraged to walk or ride bikes on Stevens Creek Trail the 2.5 miles to the Sleeper Open Space where there will be music and refreshments from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

I am happy to report that last night in a 5-2 vote Sunnyvale Council did in fact strike policy 2.2.C.5 prohibiting any creek corridor alignment from the General Plan. It was a two part motion: part one to strike the old policy and a somewhat unclear part two to create a Mayoral subcommittee of three council members to work on resulting issues, including a new policy for creek side (and other) private property protection, potential trail alignments, get community input, and report back with a recommendation before the end of 2009. All council members supported part one; 2 opposed part 2 as presented, hence the 5-2 final vote.

Our count of speakers showed 18 to keep the old policy and 18 to remove it. They were limited to 2 minutes each to keep things moving. People on both sides were mostly considerate and respectful of the their opponents. What especially caught my attention was that many of those speaking to keep the old policy were in favor of Stevens Creek Trail in general and open to amending the old policy. However, it became increasingly clear as the night went on that any meaningful progress on the trail in Sunnyvale, including cooperation with Los Altos, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale at 4-city talks in early May, required immediate action to remove the policy.

It also became very clear that many people along or near the creek between Fremont and Homestead were very worried about losing their privacy and security. Apparently 300 signed a petition opposing removal of the old policy. Most had only heard about the council vote 10 days earlier from a city mailing, and felt it was too rushed. Statements that a trail alignment along the creek there was very unlikely were not very reassuring to them. Part two of the motion that passed is an attempt to respond to those concerns.

The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail fully supports the efforts of the city of Sunnyvale to come up with a new policy to address these concerns that also allows consideration of new trail alignments that make sense. A lot has to happen. Sunnyvale needs to work out its new policy to protect property owners, come up with good ideas for possible trail alignments, go through all the required public hearings and environmental reviews, respond to feedback, and then find funding. This will take a while. We will keep you posted as developments come up, and will continue to work with everyone concerned to find the best trail solution possible. If you would like to be more closely involved with this as a member of our board of directors, please contact me.

Thanks for your work!

With little fanfare, the greatly anticipated opening of the Stevens Creek Trail extension from El Camino Real to Sleeper Avenue was opened on Friday 24 April 2009. News travelled quickly and I was among the first to "legally" travel on the opened trail. I took TOO MANY pictures, snapping one every few feet at the fresh pavement in front of me with copious freshly planted native trees and shrubs lining the pathway. It is only 1/2 mile long, but for those who have biked along Grant Road, you know that is a treacherous 1/2 mile we are now fortunate to be able to avoid.

I chose a dozen pictures that I think will give you a flavor for the trail. I apologize, but they are in somewhat reverse order for many of you - starting at Sleeper Park and heading north to El Camino Real.
View slideshow of the trail

Look forward to a grand opening ceremony, probably in early June. It is expected that this section opening will be celebrated along with the new bridge over Moffett Blvd. at that time.

Today was an exciting milestone in the development of the Stevens Creek Trail with the installation of the bridge over Stevens Creek to Sleeper Park. Many were on hand from the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail and the City of Mountain View, as well as the contractor and design teams.

It took nearly 2 hours to prepare the 250 ton crane for the job of lifting the 60,000 lb. bridge into place. A second, 50 ton crane was used to load up 163 tons of counterbalance onto the big crane so it could reach out across the creek without hitting the 50,000 volt power lines overhead (I think they had been deactivated for the day). It then took nearly an hour to connect the bridge and move into its precise placement.

Check out a slideshow of the day here.

The trail opening is expected around late April. There is plenty of work still to do before then, including stone work around the bridge, concrete ramps up to the bridge, landscaping along the trail, paving of the actual trail, and some fences and railings. Be sure you are signed up on one of our mailing lists so we can let you know when the grand opening takes place.

Sunnyvale City Council, at their 27 January 2009 meeting, voted to initiate a change to its general plan to reverse their 1994 policy which prohibits consideration of the Stevens Creek Trail along the banks of Stevens Creek. This comes, partially, in response to the City of Los Altos' Stevens Creek Trail feasibility study that resulted in a proposed trail with about 1/8 mile of trail in Sunnyvale.

You can read the Sunnyvale Sun newspaper report on the decision HERE.

Every couple months, the City of Cupertino sends out an update on their progress with the Stevens Creek Corridor project. The current phase is taking place around McClellan Ranch and Blackberry farm. The creek itself is being re-routed to restore it to a more gentle slope, allowing removal of the rip-rap and concrete that was put in there 50 years ago when Blackberry Farm was built.

In this installment, the focus is on changing the flow of the creek to the new channel, and the challenges of doing that. (Hint, the fish didn't get the memo, so they needed some assistance.) Read the PDF Newsletter here.

Please don't forget that the grand opening ceremony for the new trail and tunnel under El Camino Real is happening Saturday, April 12th at 10:00 a.m. at the Yuba Drive Trail Head. After the dedication, the trail will open and all are invited to take a walk on the new trail up to El Camino Real and through the tunnel.

All are encouraged to bicycle or walk to the event, but if you need to drive, it is strongly recommended that you drive to Landel's School, park there and walk up to Yuba drive.
Click Here to see a copy of the City of Mountain View invitation
If you come from farther to the north, be sure to look at the south end of the Central Expressway overpass for the newly renovated Friends of Stevens Creek Trail Reach-3 Dedication Plaque.

It was exactly a year ago that we reported upon the groundbreaking for construction of the tunnel under El Camino Real, so today seems a fitting time to announce the upcoming grand opening ceremony. The opening is scheduled for Saturday, April 12th 2008 at 10:00 a.m. at the Yuba Drive trail head. That is all the details I have at this point.

Related to this, if you haven't seen it, is the City of Mountain View's Project Status page. Sorry I didn't discover this sooner!

Finally, I took some pictures of the nearly completed trail a couple days ago. They are already dated a bit since work is proceeding quickly on landscaping. In fact, just today, all lanes of traffic were reopened! When you next drive by, be sure to check out the glass skylight in the center median. My picture is from before it was unveiled.

Today is a milestone day! The new section of trail from Yuba Drive along the creek to El Camino Real, through the new tunnel under El Camino Real, and around the other side back to the sidewalk is now all paved. You can witness most of this just driving along El Camino Real southbound.

All looks on target for an opening of this valuable trail section this spring.

After a long hiatus from posting anything, today I find much to share.

First off, there is a nice new video posted to YouTube about the 2007 Trailblazer Race. This comes was produced by KMVT-15, the Mountain View Television station that has been a longtime supporter of the Trailblazer Race.

Second, in response to numerous requests for distances between different things along the trail, I have put together a new "Distance Calculator". At this point, it is like those ones you used to find on road maps - you find your starting point as a row and then look to see where it intersects with your ending point column and read off the distance. Send feedback from that page if it doesn't quite meet your needs.

Third, we have an update to the Mountain View status page, as gathered from the 13th February 2008 Parks and Rec meeting. Status of other cities has also been updated, too.

Construction has begun on the next reach of Stevns Creek Trail from Yuba Drive to the south side of El Camino Real. This trail extension includes the construction of a pedestrian/bicycle tunnel under El Camino Real near the intersection of El Camino Real and Highway 85, as well as an improved trailhead at Yuba Drive.

The Stevens Creek Trail is a bike and pedestrian path that runs along Stevens Creek in Mountain View and is part of a larger network of trails throughout the Bay Area. When finished, the trail in Mountain View will stretch from Mountain View High School to the Bay.

Construction work began with the relocation of a water line along El Camino Real. Work on the tunnel will follow next. The construction will require the removal of the El Camino median, the closure of two lanes and the re-routing of traffic around the work. The work will reduce El Camino Real to two lanes of through-traffic in each direction for approximately nine months. Contruction will take approximately one year to complete.

If you drove down El Camino Real by Hwy 85 today, you surely would have noticed that there were only 2 lanes open in each direction, even though it doesn't seem to be causing much of any backup or slowdown. Here's an overview

The good news about this is that those lanes are closed for a GREAT reason - the construction of the bicycle and pedestrian tunnel under El Camino Real for the extension of the Stevens Creek Trail!

Workers today were busy with 2 separate projects. One team was pulling up the paving stones from the median strip and stacking them up for later re-use.   Click for a peek   Another team was working at the entrance of the parking lot for Homestead Studio Suites Hotel to widen the driveway and make room for the new tunnel on the north side of the El Camino.  Take a look  

Previously, a water hookup on the south side of El Camino Real was already moved a few feet to make room for the tunnel to come through. Later, on the south side, the entrance to Hwy 85 will also be redesigned such that P.G.&E. and SCVWD access to the meadow is preserved.

Riding my bike to work this morning, as I approached the Stevens Creek Trail entrance at the end of Yuba Drive, I was most excited to see and hear heavy machinery grinding away past the end of the trail.

Sure enough, the City of Mountain View had begun work to demolish the buildings there on the property they recently acquired. It is a beautiful lush and shady area right along the creek that will become a site for some amenities along the next segment of the trail that will be crossing under El Camino Real on its way towards Mountain View's southern border at Mountain View High School.

I'll try to monitor this more closely and start taking some pictures, in case your travels don't take you to this part of the trail. I'll also post some of the planning documents that were recently presented to the City Council for this segment of construction.

• HTML (64 kB) Version of 2005 Annual Report
• PDF (7.2 MB) Version of 2005 Annual Report