# San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail Temporary Detour starting 4/15



## 4Crawler

The San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail will be temporarily detoured between Agnew Road and Tasman Drive for approximately 1 year starting April 15 and ending when the Stadium is open.

The detour is needed to ensure the safety of bicyclists, pedestrians, and construction workers. The construction activity in and around this portion of the San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail will include re-grading the Great America Theme Park Main Parking Lot, work related to Parking Lot lights and utilities, abutments and support for the 3 new bridges, and the rerouting of the Creek Trail around the new bridges.

Bicyclists will be rerouted via Agnew Road, Lakeshore Drive, Gianera Street, the VTA Great America Train Station Parking Lot, Stars & Stripes Drive, and service road/trail along the rear of the Tasman Parking Garage, and then back to the San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail.

Pedestrians will be rerouted via Agnew Road, Mission College Blvd, Great America Parkway past the Santa Clara Convention Center, and then back to the San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail.

Map of detour(s) below:
- City of Santa Clara : News : San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail Temporary Detour


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## ukbloke

Oh, for about 1 year! Wow, that's going to suck for a lot of trail users.

But thanks for posting.


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## 4Crawler

ukbloke said:


> Oh, for about 1 year! Wow, that's going to suck for a lot of trail users.
> 
> But thanks for posting.


Yes, I was shocked by the 1 year estimated closure!

One might ask if this were say Great America Pkwy. that was to be closed for construction, I doubt it would be closed for a year. They would probably do like they do on the Bay Bridge and cram all the work into a long weekend and be done with it. 

But "it is just a bike lane", so take all the time you want.

Now, I wonder if the bike path rules will apply to the temporary route. For example I skate on that trail several times a week, legally. But according to city regulations, skating on city streets is not permitted. So am I going to be breaking the law if I skate the officially designated temporary route?


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## 4Crawler

Rode back on the bike detour route yesterday, you can cross at the bridge by the golf driving range, then follow the bike/train signs to wind through the tennis courts and then swing around and under Tasman by the train station. Then through the construction parking lot and at the back hop on a short paved bike path and that dumps you onto Gianera Street then onto Lakeshore Drive. At least not terribly busy streets, although getting from Agnews onto the south bound STAC trail is sketchy, as there is no crossing light button in the center divider. So you either hang a left at the divider and wait for a light or break in traffic, or you have to swing right and hit the cross button. Not sure what the official way to make that turn is, but at rush hour, that could be a problem.

Also, this week is apparently the spring cleaning pickup week in that neighborhood, so the sidewalks and streets are packed with junk and trucks stopping to sort through that. So probably best to avoid the area until next weekend, give them time to clean up the streets and probably avoid riding close to the curbs for a while in case there is still debris there.

For folks that commute via the bike trail, probably need to allow 5 extra minutes for your ride time with that route. It is nowhere near as direct and there are stop signs and intersections to deal with compared to the straight through trail.


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## districtSrider

I can't believe this will be closed for a whole year. The signs posted on the trail say nothing about this.

The San Tomas trail was perfect for connecting to the light rail station from the southern part of Santa Clara without having to worry about riding on dangerous roads or through random neighborhoods. I'm hoping they'll make up for this by finishing the trail south of Monroe St, but we'll see.


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## 4Crawler

districtSrider said:


> I can't believe this will be closed for a whole year. The signs posted on the trail say nothing about this.
> 
> The San Tomas trail was perfect for connecting to the light rail station from the southern part of Santa Clara without having to worry about riding on dangerous roads or through random neighborhoods. I'm hoping they'll make up for this by finishing the trail south of Monroe St, but we'll see.


Looks like they are making progress on the new section of trail between Monroe and El Camino. They were pouring concrete for the first stretch of the K-wall along the edge of the pavement last week and have form work up for the next stretch. Checked behind the new wall and they have the new trail area back filled and roughly graded, so I guess all the underground work is done. I think they are planning to build a taller sound wall between the bike path and the neighboring houses, but don't see any signs of that work beginning. 

I expect the original 5/13 re-opening date is not going to happen, especially since they were a few months late on getting started.


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## patrickkonsor

When I biked past today it looked like they had removed the sign saying when it would open again, so I'm guessing it will be after 5/13.


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## 4Crawler

I noticed that they are getting ready to pour concrete for the big wall posts for the sound wall that will sit between the bike path and the houses. I thought I read some place that there was going to be a sound wall along the residential area, so I guess they'll have to finish that up before they can get going on paving the bike path.

Looks like they planted a small forest of redwood trees along the ball field in lieu of a sound wall. I guess that is to replace the big trees they took out a few years ago.

Also see they have done a lot of excavation where the existing trail ends at Cabrillo. Still waiting to see what they are going to do with that intersection.


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## jmpsmash

they put up the inner wall between the bike path and the houses behind. it went up within a couple of days. what concerns me is that the wall has pillars (molded) sticking out every 10 meters or so, and the textures is very rough. being so narrow as it is one need to be extra careful going the southerly direction. any misjudgement on the line will mean crashing into these concrete pillars.

not sure what they are thinking.


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## 4Crawler

Yes, I saw those pillars laying on the ground first of least week. They seem to be made of cast concrete, open on the back side. I'll have to take a look next time I walk by the trail now that they are up. That fake adobe block texture on them was pretty rough, they would leave quite a mark if you were to hit one at speed. Seems the designers are not thinking of higher than walking speed when they put something like that in.

Did take a peek last night. That is a pretty narrow section of trail between the sound wall and traffic barrier. seems they could have used a less obtrusive column design, those things eat up almost a foot of that width. I didn't check all the street endings, but it looks like there will be no entrances to the path from those two street ends. I think I heard there will be access at Laine Ave. by the ball fields.


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## 4Crawler

Saw an updated "opening date" sign on the southerly end of the trail at Monroe last night. Listed "7/13" as the opening date, with the "7" written over an area that had been blanked out. So assume that means some time in July 2013.

Saw the first section of the finished sound wall tonight, wow that thing is tall, probably around 10 feet! Looks like there are some entrances to the bike path at Laine. Looks like the grading of the trail is pretty much done, ready for some oil and asphalt. I see they are putting up a black fence along the ball field and trail. Looks like a lot of work going on at Cabrillo with new pole bases and what not.

6/24: Saw they got the pavement laid down along the walled section today. Still looks like a lot of work going on at the Cabrillo intersection and some landscaping still on-going. Appears the landscaping will be similar to the section of trail just north of Cabrillo with a black chain link fence between the trail and the ball fields. Also noticed the sound wall seems to be finished up to near El Camino.


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## 4Crawler

Attended a meeting of the Santa Clara Bicycle Access Committee this afternoon, mainly to get my pitch across for better safety at the Monroe St. crosswalk on the creek trail. Did get some positive questions and comments on that topic, so we will see. I was nearly hit again on Wednesday evening by a car nearly running that crosswalk, so that prompted me to look up the BAC schedule and they had a meeting scheduled the very next day. 

But the big agenda item was issue of what to do with the creek trail next to the new stadium on game days. Apparently all along, the stadium proponents chanted the refrain that nothing will happen with the trail and heck, you can even ride you bike on it right to the game. There apparently was some early thought given to making stadium access via raised and covered bridges to separate trail traffic from stadium traffic, but repeating the refrain above, no need to worry about that, the trail will be fine. Besides, that would cost the stadium project a bunch of money and since it wasn't going to be a problem, why spend the money?

Fast forward to today, and with the post Boston bombing, there will be row after row of metal detectors along the main Great America parking lot (like the whole length of that huge parking lot according to the photo they showed) to screen all the game attendees prior to entering the "sterile (i.e. secure) zone" of the stadium. 

Oops, the bike trail passes right through the middle of the sterile zone. So it looks like either the trail will be closed basically all day long on big event days; 4-8 hours before the game until 4-8 hours after the game. Or trail users may be allowed to pass (on foot only), but only after going through security screening. Sounds fine in theory, but realize you'll be trying to cross a stream of 70,000 tail gating fans pushing and shoving to get into the stadium while pushing your bike along in clip-less shoes for about a mile!

But the main option seems to be to detour trail traffic east on Agnews, north on Lafayette then west on Gold St. connector to reconnect with the north end of the trail. Actually, that would be my preferred route if I accidentally found myself on the trail on a game day. Get me the heck out of here as fast as possible. My main plan will be to head due south on home game days, not getting anywhere near that mob scene.

The final decision won't be made for some time now. And apparently there is a grant application in the process for the city to get funding to modify the creek trail along the stadium area to run it under the existing and new foot bridges. Now the question remains as to why do we, the tax payers, have to foot the bill to fix the trail that we, the tax payers, paid to build because the stadium folks did not want to pay to put their foot bridges over the trail, that was already there, in the first place. Suffice it to say, the two guys from the stadium project got an earful and high tailed it out of the meeting once their presentation was over. And the high muckety-muck from the stadium project that was supposed to be there as well was suddenly called out of town the day of the BAC meeting that is scheduled 2 months ahead of time?

Still makes you think how cyclists rank in the grand scheme of things. If the stadium guys came along and said OK, we are going to need to close down a mile of Hwy. 101 for a year while we build the stadium, oh and we'll be closing it down about 15 days a year during events; heads would be rolling. But, it is just a bike path, nobody will care.

One other item, the city has just released their hard copy bike map and they are close to releasing the on--line version. Will be both web and mobile accessible. Should be out in a month or two.


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## ukbloke

Thanks for attending and writing this up!


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## 4Crawler

Looks like the trail segment from Monroe to Cabrillo might be partially open. Came by last night and they have the south side bike lane on Cabrillo blocked off and the north side is now open. The big Trail Closed sign is still up at Monroe but the gate was open. Seems they have the bike lane and sidewalk work done, but still have the traffic lane work to do. Looks like they added a larger concrete area at the end of the bike path, maybe to serve as a holding area prior to crossing the street, so maybe there will be a dedicated crosswalk light to stop traffic coming off of San Tomas.

Also took a look down the new section of trail (the chain link fence was partly down). Looks like there is about a foot wide landscape section along the big sound wall. So at least that keeps riders a bit away from those protruding columns and the paved part of the path is actually quite wide, I think it is wider than the part just north of Cabrillo. Seems like they are adding some chain link fencing atop the shorter wall along the roadway and still working on the south side of the Cabrillo intersection.

Walked up the paved section of the new trail this evening. Noticed it just ends short of El Camino, not sure what the plan is for that end. Looks like the two options are to just dump the trail traffic onto the existing bike lane along San Tomas or they'll have to cut out the trees along the Holiday Inn Express parking lot wall and then extend the trail up along that strip of land. But no sign of any kind of work being done at that end, so it will be a trail to nowhere for a while. And I was mistaken and there seems to be no access from Laine onto the trail. Looked like there was going to be access there, but it seems the chain link fence will run up to the concrete sound wall and no break in the landscaping between the trail and the fence for anyway. So essentially the trail segment will be just like the expressway, access only from Cabrillo and El Camino.

7/23/13: Looks like the fencing along the expressway barrier is done and the gaps in the inside fence are now gone. Seems work is progressing at Cabrillo. Looks like they are getting rid of the islands and having the crosswalk set back off the expressway a ways. New traffic lights are going up. One thing I have notices is that the new sidewalk west along Cabrillo is kind of narrow and with landscaping on both sides, it will be hard for bikes and any other traffic to pass that section at the same time. Not sure if bikes headed west are supposed to enter at the crosswalk and make a sharp right turn into traffic or stay on the sidewalk where there is no curb cut until the driveway at the church parking lot.

8/2/13: Seems they finished some of the concrete for the trail south of the Cabrillo intersection. There is still a section of trail yet to be paved between there and the end of the previous paved part. Heard that the contractor (Robert A. Bothman Construction) was having a big party at their San Jose HQ last Friday, not sure if that was related to the trail construction or not.


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## 4Crawler

I saw today that the contractor was working near the El Camno end of the trail, with some grading and marking of the last trail section along the side of the expressway. Looks like the trail will be right along the edge of the roadway there with no wall. Not sure if the street light poles, that are pretty much in the middle of the northbound lane of the trail, will be moved or not. Also looks like they are setting forms for the last section of trail near Cabrillo and perhaps finally installing the trail lighting along the part of the trail behind the traffic barrier.

Looks like the crews finished installing the trail lighting. Now there is a gate up where the sound wall starts blocking access to the southern end of the trail, so assume that means work is going on at the El Camino end.

10/8/13: Saw that they filled in the one unpaved gap south of Cabrillo with nice new concrete, so the trail is all complete south to the El Camino end. Saw that they have new pavement down up from the end of the sound wall south to El Camino. Not sure what they plan to do at the actual intersection as far as traffic control goes. Also appears they are setting forms for the final concrete work at the Cabrillo intersection.


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## 4Crawler

Seems like the pavement extends through to El Camino. Walked the full length of the trail from El Camino to Cabrillo tonight. 

Doesn't look like they are planning to do much at the El Camino intersection. The new pavement just dumps out onto the existing crosswalk. The last few hundred feet of trail has no barrier between it and the turn lane, so I guess that gives driver's a chance to see trail users before the crosswalk. At least that is a bit better than crossing over to that traffic island than from the sidewalk as that is a blind corner when you step off the sidewalk.

Looks like they were working on the new stop lights at Cabrillo/San Tomas tonight, the older traffic lights are gone. There seems to be some sidewalk work and then cubs/gutters/pavement patching to finish up.

Looks like the crew worked over the weekend and on Columbus Day to wrap up most of the paving work around the new intersection. It might be getting close to opening that new trail segment. I think the El Camino intersection is a bit sketchy if the trail starts getting a lot of heavy bike commute traffic.

Took a look at the trail segment tonight and it seem that they only have some striping to finish up and installation of bollards at either end and the trail should be ready to open.


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## ukbloke

Looks like they are all done, and just need to open it. I can't believe how long this 1/2 mile of trail is taking. How many more years is it going to take for the southern end of this trail to actually connect to something useful?


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## 4Crawler

ukbloke said:


> Looks like they are all done, and just need to open it. I can't believe how long this 1/2 mile of trail is taking. How many more years is it going to take for the southern end of this trail to actually connect to something useful?


Yes, it seems to be stuck at 99.9% done. All that I can see lacking is they need to add the lane striping and put some bollards in at either end to keep cars out and it should be ready to go. It looks like the contractor is starting to clean up all the areas they used for storage during the work, so they must be getting ready to pull up stakes.

10/21: Can't figure out what is up now. Looks like they are re-doing some of the plantings along the double walled section. But they have a gate set up with a "Hardhat Area" sign on it, so maybe some other heavy work is transpiring.

10/29: Can't see that any work has been done the last week, still gates at both ends of the trail segment. Gate at the El Camino end has a "Trail Closed xxxx To xxxx" sign, but all the dates are blacked out. Looks like the contractor has removed just about all their equipment from their staging area.

11/4: Looks like nothing is going on with the trail. Only change in the last week was the fence/gates at either end are a little more securely placed, but it is still possible to squeeze through for a peek. Also the gate in the middle is now off to the side but the gap in the fence at the end of the sound wall is now closed up. Did see some new marking paint up near El Camino so maybe there is some additional work that needs to happen there?

11/13: Saw some new marking paint for future striping along some of the e on-street bike lanes, so maybe they are still prepping to get all the striping done in one shot when they finally bring in the equipment to do that. Don't see anyone actually working on the closed section of trail, though.


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## 4Crawler

I went by that new section of trail the other day and it seems they have applied a top coat or sealer to the double walled section. They had done some pavement patching earlier in the summer (must have had to do some digging). I see some of the trees along the wall by the motel are tagged for removal, so I suspect they have more work to do at the El Camino end of the trail. I read a blog post someplace that there may be some additional work to do at that southern end. I see some more survey type paint marks on that end of the trail. I suspect that work is what is holding up opening of that segment of the trail. 

The staging area where the contractor had stored all their material and equipment is basically cleaned out, just a couple of trailer road signs and a pickup sitting there.


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## ziscwg

4Crawler said:


> Yes, it seems to be stuck at 99.9% done. All that I can see lacking is they need to add the lane striping and put some bollards in at either end to keep cars out and it should be ready to go. It looks like the contractor is starting to clean up all the areas they used for storage during the work, so they must be getting ready to pull up stakes.
> 
> 10/21: Can't figure out what is up now. Looks like they are re-doing some of the plantings along the double walled section. But they have a gate set up with a "Hardhat Area" sign on it, so maybe some other heavy work is transpiring.
> 
> 10/29: Can't see that any work has been done the last week, still gates at both ends of the trail segment. Gate at the El Camino end has a "Trail Closed xxxx To xxxx" sign, but all the dates are blacked out. Looks like the contractor has removed just about all their equipment from their staging area.
> 
> 11/4: Looks like nothing is going on with the trail. Only change in the last week was the fence/gates at either end are a little more securely placed, but it is still possible to squeeze through for a peek. Also the gate in the middle is now off to the side but the gap in the fence at the end of the sound wall is now closed up. Did see some new marking paint up near El Camino so maybe there is some additional work that needs to happen there?
> 
> 11/13: Saw some new marking paint for future striping along some of the e on-street bike lanes, so maybe they are still prepping to get all the striping done in one shot when they finally bring in the equipment to do that. Don't see anyone actually working on the closed section of trail, though.



Wouldn't that whole section been a hell of a lot easier if they took part of the median out and moved the lanes over 4 feet????


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## ukbloke

ziscwg said:


> Wouldn't that whole section been a hell of a lot easier if they took part of the median out and moved the lanes over 4 feet????


The median is over the creek, so it probably wouldn't have been all that easy.

I still want to know what they're going to do next - keep going down San Tomas to Benton, then Homestead?


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## ziscwg

ukbloke said:


> The median is over the creek, so it probably wouldn't have been all that easy.
> 
> I still want to know what they're going to do next - keep going down San Tomas to Benton, then Homestead?


I have to wonder. That section of San Tomas right after El Camino is really bad with traffic. I wish they would have found a way to do an up and over thing like they did on the Stevens Creek trail in Sunnyvale.


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## 4Crawler

ziscwg said:


> I have to wonder. That section of San Tomas right after El Camino is really bad with traffic. I wish they would have found a way to do an up and over thing like they did on the Stevens Creek trail in Sunnyvale.


Imagine it is mainly limited space and budget that drove the current design. Probably also has to do with San Tomas being a county road. 

I've always wondered if there is a long term plan to run San Tomas underneath El Camino as there is a significant elevation change at that intersection.

But I did read that the bike path will ultimately extend up San Tomas to the city limit at Pruneridge. Likely be the same "barrier/bike lane/sound wall" layout like they are working on now:
- Reach 4 of San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail moving ahead? | Silicon Valley Cyclist

The other puzzler with that new segment is why they did not make an access to the trail mid-way where the ball fields and the residential area meet. Seems that was a no-brainer to let the folks in that entire neighborhood access the trail as well as all the users of those recreation and school areas. As is, you have to have to go to either end of that segment to access the trail.


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## 4Crawler

Seems a bit more progress has been made on that new segment of trail. Last week they had dug up around a manhole cover, 2nd time they have done so since paving the trail. So I think that excavation is now patched and they have striped the trail now. Still don't see any bollards for the Cabrillo end and I think the tree removal is still pending up at the El Camino end. I need to stop by some evening and read the fine print on the tree removal notices and see if there is a date on them.

Checked the tree notices and the dates were unclear. They list a 1/31/13 posting date and a "7" notice period (but no units of time appended to the 7), but assuming months, that has come and gone. 

Also saw the trail lighting on for the first time tonight (12/20). One word for it, BRIGHT. From across a baseball field, the trail lighting totally washes out the headlights on San Tomas. Not sure if the high intensity is designed to help with cyclists being blinded with oncoming headlights, but for sure you can't look directly at those lights.

12/26: Took a stroll down the lit trail tonight and not sure about the lighting. In the northbound lane, it is not terribly bad, but in the southbound lane, those light are aimed up about eye level. On the sound walls, the light washes clear to the top of the tall wall. Maybe that was the designer's idea to light up the nice new wall, but terrible for any trail users at night. If they would angle the lights down to light up the trail surface and dim them down by about 90% and they might have a workable system. As-is, you better have some dark sunglasses to put on for that section of trail at night.


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## 4Crawler

Saw the new stadium was testing their big outdoor scoreboard out last night and they had a big full color "Farewell Candlestick Park" message up. You can see that on the detour segment of the trail.


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## 4Crawler

4Crawler said:


> Also saw the trail lighting on for the first time tonight (12/20). One word for it, BRIGHT. From across a baseball field, the trail lighting totally washes out the headlights on San Tomas. Not sure if the high intensity is designed to help with cyclists being blinded with oncoming headlights, but for sure you can't look directly at those lights.
> 
> 12/26: Took a stroll down the lit trail tonight and not sure about the lighting. In the northbound lane, it is not terribly bad, but in the southbound lane, those light are aimed up about eye level. On the sound walls, the light washes clear to the top of the tall wall. Maybe that was the designer's idea to light up the nice new wall, but terrible for any trail users at night. If they would angle the lights down to light up the trail surface and dim them down by about 90% and they might have a workable system. As-is, you better have some dark sunglasses to put on for that section of trail at night.


I'm no lighting expert but I was looking closer at these trail lights tonight. They are linear strip lights (LED) inside a housing behind a clear and frosted glass lens. The lens is frosted on one half and clear on the other half. 

I think the problem with the harsh lighting is that all the lamps have the clear portion on top and the frosted portion on the bottom. What this does is give a direct view of the very bright LEDs if you look in the direction of the light. And of course the frosted portion on the bottom cuts down on the light on the ground. If those things were flipped, there would be the frosted half on top to block the direct view of the light source. This would also put more light on the trail. As they are set up now, the lights do an excellent job of lighting up the nice 15' high sound wall, but do little for anyone using the trail.

Has anyone else looked at those lights and had any opinion of them?


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## 4Crawler

I took some night photos last week of the trail lighting. 

Closeup of the lens on the fixture, note that the frosted half is on the bottom and the clear half is on top:

View attachment 291083


Looking at the light from eye level, you see directly the bright LED strip:

View attachment 291086


Along the sound wall, the light goes clear to the top of the tall wall, little on the trail:

View attachment 291084


Here you can see how the light beam projects up at about 45* on the large palm tree. Also note how the trail lights are as bright if not brighter than the oncoming vehicle headlights:

View attachment 291085


I liken walking down that trail segment at night to using a crosswalk at night where you have all the stopped vehicle headlights shining right at you, only this "crosswalk" is about 0.4 miles long!


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## ukbloke

Yes, that seems utterly bizarre. Do you think they just installed them upside down?

Still can't believe that this trail extension has still not been officially opened.


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## 4Crawler

ukbloke said:


> Yes, that seems utterly bizarre. Do you think they just installed them upside down?
> 
> Still can't believe that this trail extension has still not been officially opened.


I'm no lighting expert but I think those are upside down. You usually design lighting to hide the bright part of the light from direct view. That is why you have lamp shades and diffusers on the ceiling fluorescent light fixtures. I'm thinking of hitting the Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting later this month, if I can make it, to find out what is up. I guess it all depends on what those lights are for. If they are architectural lighting to highlight the wall and trees along the trail, they do a good job of that. But if they are to light the trail for users, they are totally wrong.

Yes, that trail segment is totally passable, lines are painted, etc., only missing the traffic bollards at the north end. I suspect that they have more work to do at the El Camino end. I think the asphalt laid down there is just temporary. They still have the tree removal notices up, so probably going to remove all those trees along the wall by the hotel there. And it looks like they have plans to change the curb cuts/ramps over the the crosswalk island judging by the paint markings. So maybe instead of opening the trail for a while then closing it for further work, easier to just not open it until the work is done.


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## ukbloke

OK, I can definitely see the need to improve the El Camino end.

Can it doesn't seem to really matter too much whether it is officially opened or not. 

Now they need to get started on the other side of El Camino ...


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## 4Crawler

Looks like the bollards finally arrived and got stuck in the holes at the north end of the trail. Funny they are still wrapped up in bubble wrap, must have just come in via ePacket from China  But the gates are gone and it looks like the trail is open for business. 

I saw a few cyclists on there the other night and everyone was hugging the traffic barrier to get out of the glare of those darn lights.


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## 4Crawler

I attended the Santa Clara Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting this afternoon and made my comments about the harsh trail lighting. The city traffic engr. rep. said they would look into that. Apparently that segment of the trail is not officially finished, just that enough contractor work was done that is was opened for use. So the city has not signed off on any of the work and needs to go through and inspect things and hopefully the lights can be fixed if that is not the way they were specified to be installed.

Also, commented on the temporary trail closures around the new stadium and how it would be good if there was an easily accessible web page notification where trail open/closed status could be viewed by the public. Apparently that is something that is in the works, although it may only reflect 49er game closures once the NFL schedule is announced. I mentioned the San Jose Trail network page were you can view trail network closures and congestion status as a good example:
- San Jose, CA - Official Website - Questions & Concerns
I know I would want to stay as far away from the stadium as possible on game days. I Imagine the trail near there will be total grid lock on game days.


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## ukbloke

Great information - thanks!


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## 4Crawler

Well, a minor victory of sorts. Looks like the city or contractor flipped the lenses on the trail side lighting over. It is better as that cuts off some of the light being thrown upwards. 

But I think the lamps themselves are actually installed upside down. It is hard to see inside, but it looks like there is a long round reflector of sorts with a long LED strip off to one side of that reflector. It seems the LEDs are located on the bottom half of the reflector causing the light to be reflected upward and out. To my eyes, I think the LEDs should be on top to throw the light down and out. You can see where the near lane is in shadow and the far lane is lit then the frosted lens cuts off the light somewhat, but you can still see directly in to the bright LEDs.

I was unable to identify the brand of lamps to see if I could find some sort of installation guidelines for them. Might have to run the lighting past the city BAC folks again at the next meeting, but what is there now is at least better than it was.

---

Looking closer, it seems that maybe the lamps are installed right side up. It is hard to tell what is the real LED element and what is a reflection. But it does seem that the actual LEDs are mounted up higher and it is only a reflection that shows up when looking down at the light. If that is the case, then it is just a rather poor lamp design as you really should not be able to look at a direct reflection of the light element IMHO. They should really have some sort of louver or cover over the top kind of like the floor lighting in a movie theater. 

The other issue is that they ran the lamps at a certain distance below the top of the traffic barrier wall. Where the wall is short and the lamps are a foot or so off the trail surface, the lighting is great, down on the pavement and not up in the eyes of trail users. But where the wall is taller, the lamps are way up high and the light is thrown up higher, leaving one lane dark. But, since those lamp recesses were cast in the concrete wall when it was built, no way they are going to move those. Probably looked good on the designer's drawing, but does not work in real life.

Perhaps they have installed some sort of dimmer and perhaps can turn down the intensity of those lights?


----------



## ukbloke

It was more than a year but they have reopened the trail past the stadium now. They haven't yet provided access to Tasman East, but you can ride through to the golf course side.


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## 4Crawler

Thanks for the update. 

I have not been able to make it that far down the trail in a while. Need to get down and check it one one of these weeks.


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## ziscwg

ukbloke said:


> It was more than a year but they have reopened the trail past the stadium now. They haven't yet provided access to Tasman East, but you can ride through to the golf course side.
> 
> 
> View attachment 297026


I remember that girl on the trail. She freakin drop me when I could not do my pull.


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## 4Crawler

Rode down the trail late Saturday afternoon (8/2) as the soccer crowd was arriving. The trail was gated at Agnew and likely at Tasman (although I did not ride back to check), basically just like it was during construction. So I would assume that any stadium event with security will have the trail closed. Traffic around the bypass was not bad, mostly pedestrians. SCPD was stationed on Agnew before Lakeshore Dr. to stop fans from parking in the residential area, but bikes could go right through. There was more than the usual walking traffic on the trail either side of the gates, as I assume some fans are either walking down the trail from home or parking a few miles away and walking.

As a different return route, I rode back via the Calabazas Creek trail, then across Great America on Mission and back the the San Tomas trail.


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## ukbloke

ziscwg said:


> I remember that girl on the trail. She freakin drop me when I could not do my pull.


Just saw this comment, that's hilarious! She's a demon on the flats, but wow does she whine on the hills.


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## ukbloke

4Crawler said:


> So I would assume that any stadium event with security will have the trail closed. Traffic around the bypass was not bad, mostly pedestrians.


Yes, this seems to be the case - at least for now. We went to the soccer match intending to use the trail to walk in. As you say it was closed for everyone so we ended up walking around Great America to the west via business parking lots. It probably added an extra 0.5 mile of walking each way so not that big of a deal. The "problem" is that the trail goes through between the security access points (on the west) and the stadium (to the east). It seems that they could divert the trail with fencing into the Great America parking lot without much difficulty if they wanted to. You'd think that they would want to encourage trail access to reduce cars and traffic. Wifey will be writing a letter.


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## sanmateo_sl

Hi - I'm new to this thread and it's a wonderful find. 

I'm a 49ers fan considering biking to games. 
At night, is the trail closed south of the stadium from Agnew south to, say, Scott Blvd? 

Thanks.


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## ukbloke

That part is open on game days. The closed part is from Agnew to Tasman. There's more information here.


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## sanmateo_sl

ukbloke said:


> That part is open on game days. The closed part is from Agnew to Tasman. There's more information here.


Thanks. I'm very aware of what part is closed due to the games at the Stadium. It's part of the "security perimeter". I've already scoped out how to bike to the stadium coming from the south up the trail. Go through Agnew to Lakeshore Dr to Gianera to the parking lot east of the stadium. 

My specific question, though, is with the trail **south** of Agnew to Scott Blvd. (i'm thinking of parking near there and biking to games. However, at night, is this section of the trail closed? I saw a sign saying it's open only during the day but if I have a bike light, can I still bike on the trail or do they shut the trail with a fence?

Thanks for your help.

Edit: thanks for the thread. That's exactly what I needed.


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## 4Crawler

sanmateo_sl said:


> Thanks. I'm very aware of what part is closed due to the games at the Stadium. It's part of the "security perimeter". I've already scoped out how to bike to the stadium coming from the south up the trail. Go through Agnew to Lakeshore Dr to Gianera to the parking lot east of the stadium.
> 
> My specific question, though, is with the trail **south** of Agnew to Scott Blvd. (i'm thinking of parking near there and biking to games. However, at night, is this section of the trail closed? I saw a sign saying it's open only during the day but if I have a bike light, can I still bike on the trail or do they shut the trail with a fence?
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> 
> Edit: thanks for the thread. That's exactly what I needed.


I think "officially" the trail is supposed to be "closed" after dark. But that said, I have ridden it after midnight, the full length with no problem. Only time it seems to be gated closed is for (potential) flooding events and then the section by the stadium on those days it is used.

Now interestingly, the newest section of the trail from Cabrillo to El Camino is lit at night, not sure how late the lights are on, but they have been on any time I have looked at night.


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## 4Crawler

ukbloke said:


> Yes, this seems to be the case - at least for now. We went to the soccer match intending to use the trail to walk in. As you say it was closed for everyone so we ended up walking around Great America to the west via business parking lots. It probably added an extra 0.5 mile of walking each way so not that big of a deal. The "problem" is that the trail goes through between the security access points (on the west) and the stadium (to the east). It seems that they could divert the trail with fencing into the Great America parking lot without much difficulty if they wanted to. You'd think that they would want to encourage trail access to reduce cars and traffic. Wifey will be writing a letter.


Yes, I think the stadium folks sort of side stepped that whole issue. Initially, they said zero impact on the bike trail, no problems using it, bike to the game, yada yada yada. Then they decide now that it encroaches in the security area, the stadium folks conveniently blame the Boston bombing on "increased security". But I suspect they knew about this all along and did not want to incur the expense of building pedestrian overpasses across the trail, so much easier to just block it off. 

When I attended the couple of bicycle pedestrian advisory committee (BPAC) meetings, it was said they will have people stationed around the bike bypass route to guide folks around the area. I saw nothing like that at the soccer match, no signs, no people aside from the couple at the gate across the trail. So it seems that they have just swept the whole bike path issue under the rug, after all, "it is only a bike path". You could imagine the uproar if they instead said that they were going to close down 101 or 237 for every game and also for over a year during construction. And they also said their would be a web page that riders could check to see when the trail would be closed, so that we could plan around that. I have yet to find anything about that. I guess it is time to hit up the Santa Clara BAC meeting again. I think the city needs to stand up and get the stadium folks to live up to what they promised.:

Next meeting if anyone is interested in attending:
- City of Santa Clara : Bicycle Advisory Committee : Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Meeting

Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Meeting
(BPAC)
Date: 8/20/2014 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Location: Inspection Conference Room, West Wing
1500 Warburton Avenue
Santa Clara, California 95050


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## Dr_John

> I remember that girl on the trail. She freakin drop me when I could not do my pull.


 It runs in the ukbloke family; training started young. Years ago ukbloke pulled her up Sierra in a kid carrier to the astonishment of us all that witnessed it. There's a vid by Francois of it somewhere.


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## sanmateo_sl

4Crawler said:


> I think "officially" the trail is supposed to be "closed" after dark. But that said, I have ridden it after midnight, the full length with no problem. Only time it seems to be gated closed is for (potential) flooding events and then the section by the stadium on those days it is used.
> 
> Now interestingly, the newest section of the trail from Cabrillo to El Camino is lit at night, not sure how late the lights are on, but they have been on any time I have looked at night.


Thank you for your answer.


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## 4Crawler

Got this message from SCPD:



> Community: Traffic Advisory for Levi’s® Stadium on Sunday, August 17
> 
> Hi Santa Clara Police Department Subscriber,
> Attendees - Take Public Transportation; Residents – Allow Additional Time To Travel To and From Your Home
> 
> Levi’s® Stadium is hosting an pre-season National Football League game between the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers at 1:00pm. Additional event information can be found on the Levi’s® Stadium website at Levi'sÂ® Stadium - Home of the San Francisco 49ers
> 
> • Heavy traffic and delays are anticipated on major thoroughfares leading to and from the stadium, including Highways 101, 237, 880, Lawrence Expressway, Great America Parkway and San Tomas Expressway, as a result of the event. Expect increased traffic to begin around 9:00am and at the conclusion of the event, estimated at 4:00pm;
> • Tasman Drive will be closed from Convention Center Drive to Centennial / Marie P DeBartolo Way on Sunday, August 17;
> • No parking will be allowed on Tasman Drive on Sunday, August 17;
> • No parking will be allowed on Lick Mill Boulevard on Sunday, August 17;
> • Stadium-goers are encouraged to take public transportation. For light rail and bus lines contact Valley Transportation Authority (Santa Clara Valley Transporation Authority), ACE/Capitol Corridor heavy rail (ACE | Altamont Corridor Express - Home) or CalTrain (www.caltrain.org);
> • For individuals driving personal vehicles, to receive optimal driving directions to the stadium on event days, visit Parking | Levi'sÂ® Stadium to view directions from each lot. Do not park in residential neighborhoods;
> • Residents should allow additional time for travel and may consider taking alternate routes to and from their homes;
> • The City of Santa Clara Traffic Engineering Department has made traffic cameras available to help individuals make travel decisions based on road conditions at City of Santa Clara : Police Department under the Levi’s® Stadium Information tab;
> • To reduce traffic in residential neighborhoods, the Santa Clara Police Department will have checkpoints at the following intersections:
> o Lafayette Street and Calle de Primavera
> o Agnew Road and Bassett Street
> o Bassett Street and Wyatt Drive
> o Agnew Road and Freedom Circle
> o Mission College Boulevard before it becomes Wildwood Avenue
> • Everyone is encouraged to read the message boards and follow the instructions of police personnel and private security;
> • Be observant and monitor your environment. If you notice suspicious objects or observe suspicious behavior, report this information to local law enforcement immediately;
> • The San Tomas Aquino / Saratoga Creek Trail will be closed from Agnew Road to Tasman Drive on Sunday, August 17. A detour will be provided.
> • Do not drink and drive;
> 
> The Stadium Authority will serve as the first point of contact to the public for stadium operations issues (e.g. parking, traffic, noise, etc.). A customer service representative can assist the public at (408)673-2100 or by email at [email protected];
> 
> The Santa Clara Police Department can be contacted for non-emergencies at 408-615-5580 or 9-1-1 in the case of an emergency;
> 
> For full details, view this message on the web. https://local.nixle.com/alert/5249374/?sub_id=2081881


At least them make mention of the bike trail being closed, only time I have seen that mentioned any place. Not mentioned on the stadium event page nor on the city web site.


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## sanmateo_sl

4Crawler said:


> Got this message from SCPD:
> 
> 
> 
> At least them make mention of the bike trail being closed, only time I have seen that mentioned any place. Not mentioned on the stadium event page nor on the city web site.



Thanks for posting. What's still not clear is where is STA trail closed north of the stadium? Hopefully it's just south of that bridge to the golf course driving range/tennis courts.


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## 4Crawler

sanmateo_sl said:


> Thanks for posting. What's still not clear is where is STA trail closed north of the stadium? Hopefully it's just south of that bridge to the golf course driving range/tennis courts.


That would be my guess, judging by what they did on Aug. 2. I am still planning to attend the bike committee meeting on the 20th and see if there is going to be some easy to find place to find out this sort of information (there should be). Where the trail closure will be, when it will close and when it will re-open, where the detour is, etc. Since it is the stadium events causing the closures, they are the ones that should fund and maintain a web page with this information.

Not sure if I am a typical cyclist, but if asked the dates for the Vuelta España, I could tell you (8/23-9/14), but if asked when the next 49er home game is I would reply, "Oh, has football season started already?".


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## 4Crawler

Still seems quite disorganized. Went north on the trail at about 6-6:30PM on the 17th. Did see some Detour signs and a sign indicating "Trail closed on stadium event days" between Mission and Agnews. Gate at Agnews was wide open, no guards, so rode in only to find traffic barricades up at the stadium. Luckily I had my cross bike, so hopping a few fences and curbs was no problem. Got up to Tasman and that was all blocked off as was the trail undercrossing on both sides. Again, no guards or any signs but locked gates. I worked my way up along the sidewalks and got over to the golf course area. 

Really bad to have one gate open only to find after 3/4 - 1 mile that the trail is still blocked. If someone were walking and got that far down the trail, only to have to turn around, that would be a 30 minute detour. They need better coordination on those gate openings, open all at once and they should be open and the trail clear ASAP. When I went by, there was just the odd spectator wondering around, a handful of dazed concession workers. Why are the barricades still up and the gates locked? It looked like the guards at the Agnews gate decided to leave and unlocked their gate. The guards at the Tasman gates just left and forgot to unlock the gates. I think the city should get the stadium to guarantee a trail opening time and if not met, assess a fine for every minute past the contracted time. 

I think the detour route still follows the old construction route. I would avoid that route closer to game time as there was a lot of traffic behind the stadium, even at 6:30, buses lined up 2-3 wide, cars pulling out, etc. At one time they were looking at a detour all the way out to Lafayette, I think that would have been safer.

I still can't find anything on-line related to a list of closure dates, times, etc.


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## 4Crawler

Well, not a lot constructive activity at the Santa Clara BPAC meeting today. I think things may get worse before they get better. Talk of some Critical Mass type protests at upcoming events and other sorts of protests and publicity in local newspapers, etc.

Most of all of this mess is thanks to Homeland Security and we all know how well they handle things like this  So it seems everyone is pointing the finger at whoever is above them, the BPAC is essentially at the bottom of the heap and can't really do anything, saying Santa Clara PD is telling them what to do and SCPD is getting top secret orders from who knows where, etc. And the city folks seem clueless to what is going on down there. They only found out today (8/20) about the issues that happened on the 8/17 game. Excuse me, all I had to do was ride down the trail Sunday to see the chaos. There should be city officials out there observing and documenting everything and then holding the stadium authority accountable. 

From the sounds of it, they m....a....y be an on-line schedule of trail closure dates and times at some unknown time in the future. "IT is working on it" was the reply. That is the sort of thing that if it takes more than half a day for someone to set up, they should be fired for incompetence! How about a publicly viewable Google calendar page with the dates and times of events and trail closures until "IT" can get their act together? I should be able to look up a future date and see if there is something up at the stadium that may affect the trail and I'll simply plan to ride somewhere else. Right now I need to check the 49ers schedule, the SJ Earthquakes schedule, assorted high school football schedules, various concert promoters schedules and who knows were else to make an educated guess as to what is going on.

But from the sounds of it, the way the signs read on the trail, "closed on stadium event days" is to be taken literally, like the trail is likely to be gated at midnight the day of the game and may not be open again until the day after the event. Someone at the meeting said they noticed Tasman under crossing gates were still locked at 8:30AM Monday morning, even though the Agnews gates were wide open (apparently the guards there took their break and never came back Sunday afternoon!!!). And at the soccer match, Tasman was left open all during the game yet Agnews was gated? 

And yes, the official detour is the old construction detour route. And dodging the tour buses behind the soccer field is part of the deal. The city traffic engineer was surprised when I said buses were double and triple parked there and that I had to hop into the oncoming traffic lane to get through. I would not suggest anyone go that way within many hours of an event. All those buses are supposedly employee transportation and they bring in everyone a few hours before game time and haul them away a few hours after. So better to ride another light up to Lafayette and then ride up Lafayette up to 237 and catch the Bay Trail up there.

Also, as far as event size and trail closures, there is some sort of hard limit at a attendee count of 20,000 where the full security perimeter (i.e trail closure) goes into effect. But at events smaller than that, trail might still get closed, depending on the type of event. For example there is some sort of high school football game(s) coming up that will be on ESPN. Estimated crowd is ~10,000 and it is unsure if the trail will be closed or not for that. 

Also dawn to dusk trail hours were mentioned, trail officially is closed after dark. So, how about a Monday nigh football game in the late fall? Fans leaving the stadium will be "using" the trail after dark, do they all get written up?

Just sent off notes to the Levi Stadium and City of Santa Clara "contact us" links:
- Contact Us | Levi's® Stadium
- City of Santa Clara : Email Us

Not sure it will do any good, but if they start getting dozens, hundreds or more complaints, maybe they will get off their rear ends and at least get some sort of trail schedule up. They promised one at the January meeting I attended and now 7 months later, nothing.

Interesting post below:
- Nevius to Levi's Stadium - 1 hour, 54 minutes of train time - SFGate

I liked the last note:


> 11:35 a.m.: Ashley and Tim Haney pull up on bikes and park them in the dedicated bike corral. They intended to take the San Tomas Aquino Creek Bike Trail, but it's apparently closed for games. Overall, their ride only took about 10 minutes - from the car they parked in Lot 4.


So a potential pair of bicycle riders to the stadium instead opted to drive because the trail was closed. Excellent!!!

Interesting to see where the bike corrals are located. One is where the trail meets Tasman, just across from the north end of the stadium. The other one is at the golf course bridge way north of the stadium. While there might be some stadium-goers from the north coming to a game, I would think the vast majority would be coming from the south, at least Santa Clara residents who might want to use the bike trail they paid for to ride to the stadium they paid for. But from the south, it is very hard to get a bike to either bike corral to park it. You either need to detour up Great America and down Tasman in grid-locked car and heavy foot traffic or you need to ride all the way around the bypass, drop your bike off then make your way all the way back to the stadium. Then leaving, you need to repeat that journey. Seems like these plans were not thought through at all.


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## 4Crawler

Closed again this Sunday:
- https://local.nixle.com/alert/5254075/?sub_id=2081881

There is a comment section on the web page above, I added my thoughts there and also sent those to the Stadium e-mail address in the post:
mailto:[email protected]

There is also a phone number there for the stadium public relations folks (408)673-2100. I suggest everyone call them and tell them this whole trail closure schedule needs to be made public and exact closing and opening times need to be posted and adhered to. When I asked about why it took so long to get the trail open last Sunday (or actually Monday) the guy said "that shouldn't have happened". But he would not commit to any exact times for the closure. That is total BS, they need to publish a schedule and stick to it and make opening the trail back up a priority. It seems that for now, it is just an afterthought. And to back that up, the guy said "they would look into" setting up some public trail schedule. When I attended a Santa Clara BPAC meeting back in January, the same "promise" was made by the stadium authority representative at the meeting and it sounds like that was a complete lie as they might just "look into it" now. After all, it is "just a bike trail", not something important.

For now, the only public notice is a sign stating the trail will be closed that is posted about 100 feet in front of the gate that closes the trail. But why do I have to ride or walk 3+ miles down the trail to find out if it is closed or not? If I want to drive up to the Sierra, I can easily check the CalTrans road conditions page:
- Road Conditions
and find out of 50 or 88 or whatever road is open before I embark on my trip. But I can't do the same for a single bike trail with a single point closure with a fairly set schedule of events.

In looking at this whole thing, I can now appreciate the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. The state of the trail is not known until an observer makes an observation. And last Sunday, an observer at the Agnew gate would come to the conclusion that the trail is open. A second observer at the Tasman end would conclude the trail was closed at the exact same time. This the trail exists in some quantum state until an observation is made at one end or the other. And it can seemingly be in both states (open and closed) at the same time, kind of like Schrödinger's cat! Maybe we can get some physics PhD candidate to do their dissertation on this, quantum effects observable in a tangible object! They might win a Nobel prize.


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## 4Crawler

Found this information posted on another site:

Its NOT just the Sunday 49er games the path will be closed. Any type of event where the metal detectors in the Great America Parking Lot are utilized WILL currently close the trail at Agnew because of the ‘security perimeter’. This may include the following events:

August 29th Friday Night Lights
September 6th (Sat) Mexico vs. Chile
October 24th (Fri) Cal vs. Oregon
Dec 5th (Fri) Pac 12 Championship game
Dec 30th (Tues) San Francisco Bowl
Feb 21st (Sat) NHL Sharks
March 29th (Sun) Wrestle mania
April 11th (Sat) Monster Jam
April 18th (Sat) Monster Energy Supercross

Why can't this information be posted on a public site that a simple Google or Bing search can find? 

This took me a few minutes to set up:
- https://www.google.com/calendar/emb...p.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Los_Angeles

For example, someone using the trail to commute to/from work on Friday the 29th, might be in for a big surprise when they try to come home that evening!

I have spent all week on the phone and e-mails trying to find anything about who controls the closing and opening times for the trail or can even say what they are. So far all I can find is that nobody does, which probably explains why the total lack of any coordination for that. SCPD - Sgt. Brian Gilbert who is the SCPD Homeland Security dude, no answer, left voice mail, waiting a call back. Mayor's office, received boiler plate "_Thank you for your email. A copy will be provided to the Mayor and City Council for their review. In addition, a copy is being provided to the City Manager's Office for follow-up and response._" reply. Levi's stadium folks are clueless, said the issues I reported "should not have happened" and that they would look into my issues that I reported, nothing yet. Same response from SC City Staff, amazed to hear the issues I observed and reported, said "that should not have happened" and that they would look into the situation, nothing yet. Contacted SC Convention and Visitor Bureau who lists some vague information on the stadium and trail closure. I pointed out they were posting incomplete data (i.e. no times or dates, was pointed to the city and SCPD web sites). I replied back to them that those sites also do not list any times and only list the event coming up in a couple of days. 

I can only come up with two explanations for the lack of information. 

- First is that Homeland Security does not want security related times posted publicly, lest the bad guys find out and sneak in early. 

- Second is that these morons are just plain clueless or incompetent or both. 

They have a brand new system set up, why than are there not city/police/stadium/NFL/Homeland Security supervisors out there before, during and after the event to make sure things are working smoothly and if not, fix it right there. Sitting at home and hoping things are going OK then hearing about problems from the public a week or two later is not the way to get off to a good start. For example, the trail opening fiascos, you have a supervisor at Agnew gate with a radio or at least a watch. Same at the stadium entrances, and one at the Tasman gates and someone coordinating the detour traffic control folks. At a certain time or radio contact, all the gate dudes unlock and open gates and move the barricades off the trail and they can go home. Then when the detour traffic is clear, those guys can pack up for the day as well. As it is, supposedly some of the gate dudes at the 8/17 event, took off on break and never came back! Where is the supervisor to watch over these jokers?

So I have to lean towards the 2nd option:










- Although there might be a third option. Maybe the powers that be think that if they get the word out vague enough that the trail is closed for undisclosed periods of time, maybe that trail users will assume it is permanently closed, stop using it, then the stadium gets a nice entrance concourse for free.

Side note:
- This afternoon (8/22) I noticed a huge column of black smoke billowing up to the north of my house (in the direction of the stadium about 4 miles distant). Unfortunately it was not that far north


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## 4Crawler

Well the city folks did get the trail closure dates attached below the main sign, did not see that there on the 17th:








Interesting to note that the 8/29 event as well as the 8/17 event is not listed, so don't know if the trail will be open on the 29th or not.









Great America is courteous enough to list the exact closing and opening time for their nightly fireworks show, seems that the stadium would be as "with it", but apparently they are not.

BTW, this may be top secret information as I was not able to obtain it from anyone official last week. But the word from one of the gate dudes is closures are officially 10PM (the night before and event) to 10PM after the event. This was for a 1PM-4PM NFL game, might vary with other events and start times. But since the trail is officially closed dusk to dawn, the real closing time is dusk the day before and event to dawn the day after and if 8/17 was any example, the gates were not open until after 8:30PM on Monday. The guy at the gate said their company got some heat over the 8/17 event, so they have 3-6 gate dudes (1-2 per gate x 3 gates) posted the entire 24 hour closure. And I did see the Agnew and north Tasman gate locked and manned at ~6:15PM Sunday. So when the sign says Trail Closed on Stadium Event Days, they mean the entire day of the event. And the guy at the gate did not seem to know much about the actual detour.

And here is the peaceful bike detour at about 6:20PM after a game:

























Did not see any double parking of buses this time, but there was a boat load of LEOs around, although not watching traffic. There was only one guy in black somewhat directing buses as they made u-turns. He was obviously not watching out for detour traffic as he sent a bus on a u-turn and it nearly nailed me in the bike lane, I had to move left and up onto the sidewalk. Those buses almost can't make the u-turn back on Stars and Stripes and their front end swings way wide almost to the sidewalk. I managed to find a gap in traffic as the LEOs were driving out, 3-4 CHP cruisers, a county sheriff van and an SCPD cruiser, imagine they were hauling some unruly fan off. They did nothing to control any traffic back there. 

I still am amazed that the city thinks this is a safe detour route. I do not plan to make another trip through there, only reason I went today was to see if there were any changes from last week and if not to take some photos to document the chaos. Those 3 photos were taken within 1 minute and it went from not so bad to totally jammed in that time. Buses are encroaching into the bike lanes and with the tall profile and blacked out windows, a bike rider coming southbound has no visibility at all. I can only imagine the chaos there prior to game time! Could you imagine trying to navigate that mess with a couple of young kids just learning to ride?

I would say if they want to offer this as a detour, they either need to put up warning signs to keep novice riders out of there. Because by the time you get there, you are a mile or so into the detour, so turning around is not an easy choice. Or they need to have dedicated traffic direction back there to ensure bike detour traffic has safe passage. They do this on all the crosswalks away from the stadium for the fans. But I guess these cyclists trying to use the STAC trail are not paying fans, so scr*w them.

I did not want to risk the return south bound trip so went over to Calabazas Creek and took that up to behind Mission College. That is actually not a bad route after fans have left, there is some stadium parking over there, so would avoid it when the traffic is heavy. Only issue on Calabazas, if you have not ridden it, is that it is not very road bike/skinny tire friendly. All the under crossings are on gravel, dirt or deep sand. You can stick mostly to the paved trail but then you need to cross at street level and there are no cross walks. And in wet weather, the under crossings flood and stay wet quite a long time.


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## 4Crawler

For folks who ride the STAC trail, there are a few good resources on the web page below:
- City of Santa Clara : Levi's Stadium Information

SCPD has some information on the stadium, looks like they have made a half-hearted attempt at listing trail closing and opening times. However, it is incorrect, but at least discussed in the FAQ section.

Likewise, the Nixle Messaging System (link in the side bar), does put out notifications about stadium events a couple of days ahead of time and they do seem to put in a line about the trail closure. Have not seen a message for this Friday's Friday Night Lights event, so I assume the trail will remain open.

And finally, the "Report Traffic Issues" side bar link is a good place to report problems with cars and the bikes. If you see cars/trucks running red lights at trail crossings or problems on the detour during games or anything like that, fill out a traffic issue report. At least it will get documented and I was told by an SCPD officer that issues submitted like that do get reviewed by SCPD periodically.


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## 4Crawler

Interesting that the soccer match this Saturday 
- Mexico vs. Chile | Levi's® Stadium
is not listed as a trail closure day on the sign above.

I would assume this event will hit the ~20,000 crowd size that triggers the expanded security zone. Even if it does not, probably a wise choice to avoid that section of trail Saturday afternoon. If the trail does close, I wonder when it will reopen, as the match starts at 7PM, so should run into 10PM or so. Might be open by day break on Sunday, but who knows. 

I find the total lack of communication about this closed/not closed issue is very bad. I think this multi-use path needs to be afforded the same consideration given to public roads. Like Caltrans closing 280 in SF last weekend, they didn't just close it when they felt like it. There was a big public awareness campaign and they let folks know when it was closing and when to expect it to re-open. I still have not received any replies to any of the phone calls and/or e-mails I have sent to the city, SCPD and stadium (ManagementCo) about this. I guess that shows how much they care about this issue (Not!).


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## 4Crawler

Wasn't able to make it down the trail on the 6th, but according to this trail status news release that the city put out (what I was pushing them to do back in August):
- City of Santa Clara : News : San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail Closure on Stadium Event Days

The trail apparently was closed on the 6th even though that date was not listed on the sign on the trail (as was the 8/17 closure not listed).

Not sure if that page will be kept up to date, it seems to only list events through the end of 2014. They can't even update the detour map to change the "Temporary Trail Closure Construction Zone". And they really need to put up some sort of warning sign that the section along Stars and Stripes Dr. is dangerous or they need to staff that section with safety personnel the entire time the trail is closed. 

Will be interesting to see what happens after the 16th when the new 3 foot clearance rule takes effect. There is no way traffic back there can leave a 3' clearance for a cyclist riding along the designated bike lane, so traffic will need to be stopped whenever a cyclist wants to pass through. As it is, the buses and trucks are driving ON the bike lanes now since it is so crowded.

I added a red arrow to one of my 8/17 photos pointing to the bike lane:


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## ziscwg

4Crawler said:


> Wasn't able to make it down the trail on the 6th, but according to this trail status news release that the city put out (what I was pushing them to do back in August):
> - City of Santa Clara : News : San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail Closure on Stadium Event Days
> 
> The trail apparently was closed on the 6th even though that date was not listed on the sign on the trail (as was the 8/17 closure not listed).
> 
> Not sure if that page will be kept up to date, it seems to only list events through the end of 2014. They can't even update the detour map to change the "Temporary Trail Closure Construction Zone". And they really need to put up some sort of warning sign that the section along Stars and Stripes Dr. is dangerous or they need to staff that section with safety personnel the entire time the trail is closed.
> 
> *Will be interesting to see what happens after the 16th when the new 3 foot clearance rule takes effect. T*here is no way traffic back there can leave a 3' clearance for a cyclist riding along the designated bike lane, so traffic will need to be stopped whenever a cyclist wants to pass through. As it is, the buses and trucks are driving ON the bike lanes now since it is so crowded.
> 
> I added a red arrow to one of my 8/17 photos pointing to the bike lane:
> 
> View attachment 300122


I want to say they will figure some way to keep cyclists safe, but it's not likely. We will still be on our own. We can spout off the new law, but the only person who can really do anything about is a police officer right there. Even then, he might instruct the cyclist to "wait" until it's clear. That could be a while if it's anywhere near game time.

I just think cyclists got screwed on this deal.


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## 4Crawler

ziscwg said:


> I want to say they will figure some way to keep cyclists safe, but it's not likely. We will still be on our own. We can spout off the new law, but the only person who can really do anything about is a police officer right there. Even then, he might instruct the cyclist to "wait" until it's clear. That could be a while if it's anywhere near game time.
> 
> I just think cyclists got screwed on this deal.


Yes, that is all true, for sure. It is impossible to wait until the road is clear though, as you may see a clearing, start out but before you get very far, unseen traffic comes around the corner and buses pull out behind you (because it was clear) and there you are stuck in that. Those three photos above are in about a 20-30 second sequence, far less time that it takes to ride that distance. Traffic is coming around the blind corner beneath the overpass that is in the distance and also coming from the several driveways behind. Only somewhat safe route through is to walk your bike 1/4 mile or so on the sidewalk past the crowded CalTrain platform and through the crowds of workers getting on/off the buses.

Back when they started construction and the trail was still open, they had construction traffic crossing the trail at one bridge. They had guards stationed there dawn to dusk to stop any construction traffic at the trail crossing if there was any trail traffic approaching the bridge. But now that it is up, trail users are basically thrown into the melee on their own. 

Now if I paid for a parking spot and attended the event, they have crossing guards at all the crosswalks within a mile or so of the stadium. But if I ride my bike to the event and have to ride that detour to get to the bike parking, good luck at getting through, because I am on my own. So glad they are encouraging folks to bike to the stadium. I would hate to see what it would be like if they wanted to discourage cyclists!


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## 4Crawler

Rode down this afternoon to see what it looked like before/during a game. Went north about 1 hour prior to the start and it was not too bad, imagine all the workers and supplies are on site by then. Came back south about 15 minutes after kickoff and already getting jam packed with the huge tour buses. So nice they have painted nice bike lanes for us to ride in then have the buses park over the top of them. Saw a few SCPD cruisers driving right by, so I guess parking regulations do not apply behind the stadium.

Then to top it all off, about 4 miles northwest of the stadium (in the upwind direction), riding out on the Alviso Slough trail and you can hear the announcer clear as a bell, running down the starting player's names. In fact if you were talking with someone, you would need to raise your voice to be heard over the stadium noise. So you can't even escape that stadium out in the middle of the bay!


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## 4Crawler

Great post here:
- Cyclelicious » 49ers: Solution to too many cars? More cars!



> *The problem, according to 49ers VP for operations Jim Mercurio? It’s those danged people walking and riding the train causing the problems!*
> 
> Those fans in the affected blue and green lots, which hold about 10,000 vehicles combined next to the stadium, have exit lanes that cross pedestrian paths and train tracks, with trains leaving every five minutes after the game. That means there were only small windows for vehicles to exit.
> 
> Since so many more people drive than take the train, Mercurio’s team will look at slowing down train service, perhaps to every seven or eight minutes, to let more vehicles through, among other potential changes.
> 
> If only there weren’t so many of those trains.
> 
> VTA published this strong response this morning. They don’t pull any punches:
> 
> A recent assertion that light rail was impeding traffic and that the frequency of light rail service to the stadium needs to be decreased to allow more cars through may have raised the concern of some of our riders: is VTA really considering slowing down trains to benefit cars?
> 
> The short answer is no.
> 
> It bears repeating that mass transportation is the most efficient way to move people to and from large events. With trains leaving every 5 minutes and supplemental bus service to help carry people home, VTA moved a total of 9,400 passengers in 65 minutes for the first regular-season 49ers game on Sept. 14. Transit is not the problem; transit is a solution.
> 
> If we slowed down trains or decreased their frequency, we would negatively impact that solution and would provide no tangible benefit to vehicle movement.
> 
> As the designated Congestion Management Agency for Santa Clara County, we are offering our expertise in managing traffic flow, and will continue to work with our partners to improve transportation to and from the stadium for all users. And because of decades of experience, we know 5-minute train frequencies are key to maximizing movement.


Rah. I encourage you to read the full statement.

and then this:



> In the meantime, the problem of the San Tomas Aquino Trail closure still exists, and riders report the trail remains closed through Monday morning. Santa Clara Bicycle Advisory Committee was supposed to discuss this issue at this month’s meeting, but I don’t know what became of it.


With someone like that as VP of operations, no wonder it is such a mess! Lets see, too much traffic, so lets close off the bike path and curtail public transit so we can get more cars on the road!

Also heard that the stadium/team rake in about $1M per game on parking fees, and I think the closer-in lots charge a higher fee. So it is the stadium's/team's interest to get as many cars to park as close as possible to the stadium as possible. Also cut down on those freeloaders who ride public transit or ride a bike to the stadium.


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## 4Crawler

Might be a good forum to get some of these bicycle concerns on the table:



> Stadium Community Meeting
> 
> A community meeting hosted by the Santa Clara Police Department, 49ers Management Company and the Valley Transportation Authority is scheduled for Tuesday, October 7 from 7:00-8:30pm at Don Callejon School, 4176 Lick Mill Boulevard in Santa Clara. The meeting will include an opportunity for residents and business owners to provide constructive feedback. No RSVP is necessary.


I didn't go down the trail towards the trail last Sunday, so not sure what the detour looked like. 

I did notice that SCPD at least is putting out closing and opening times for the trail on their broadcast e-mails, so that is a minor improvement:


> The San Tomas Aquino / Saratoga Creek Trail will be closed from Agnew Road to Tasman Drive from 2:30am, Sunday, September 28 until approximately 11:00pm.


Although it seems that gates are locked long after the promised time, here is a closed gate at 6:46AM Monday after the 9/14 game:
http://twitter.com/spingineer/status/511521281850630146/photo/1

And again this weekend, trail closed all day Sunday, I plan on riding the opposite direction!


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## 4Crawler

Anyone interested in voicing their concerns over the impact of the stadium on the San Tomas Aquino Creek trail might want to try and attend this meeting:



> Stadium Community Meeting
> 
> A community meeting hosted by the Santa Clara Police Department, 49ers Management Company and the Valley Transportation Authority is scheduled for Tuesday, October 7 from 7:00-8:30pm at Don Callejon School, 4176 Lick Mill Boulevard in Santa Clara. The meeting will include an opportunity for residents and business owners to provide constructive feedback. No RSVP is necessary.
> 
> This information is also available at City of Santa Clara : Police Department. You may also choose to Like, Tweet or Pin SCPD to learn what is going on in your community.
> 
> For more information, contact Lieutenant Kurt Clarke at (408)615-4865 or [email protected]
> - https://local.nixle.com/alert/5276259/?sub_id=2081881


I ended up riding out past the stadium Sunday (somewhat cooler out on the bay), the detour was just as dangerous as I have seen it before. This was mid-game time, buses parked an both sides of the road, obstructing the bike lane, one bus even double parked. One of Santa Clara's finest drove right around that double parked bus without even a warning to the driver. Come on, if I did that on El Camino, I would have a ticket faster than I could blink. But I guess if you have enough $$$ to pay to have the name of the street changed, you can get away with pretty much anything!

I rode back after the game ended mostly down Lafayette and it was not that bad. If they fixed those few bump outs that cut off the bike lane, that would be a much safer detour, albeit longer, as it would take you clear up to the Bay Trail. Back in January, that was the leading contender for the detour and the stadium folks said they would have all the intersections staffed with safety personnel. Maybe they figured that would cost too much so instead, they let the poor cyclists fend for themselves on Stars and Stripes.


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## 4Crawler

Quite a heated discussion with the stadium folks and SCPD and the general public tonight. I think the cyclists got the point across that the existing detour is not working and that something needs to be done. The one SCPD officer seemed surprised when I mentioned the SCPD patrol car I observed driving right past a double parked bus without a second glance. See below for what I saw during Sunday's game on the detour. I figured for sure the patrol car would at least give the bus driver a warning but he just pulled out and around (crossing a double yellow line) passing the bus that is violating the double parking ordinance as well as the no parking in a bike lane ordinance. I think what they do is park their buses leaving the engine running and the emergency flashers on and that way, they are not "parked", just sitting there for a few hours. 









An oncoming cyclist would not see this bus pulling out from behind the double parked bus as it is a blind corner. And notice the handy fencing along the bike lane edge that would prevent a rider from moving to the right to avoid that pull suddenly appearing in front of them! And this picture captures 3 serious traffic regulation violations, parking on a bike lane, double parking and crossing a double yellow line and if there were a rider in the oncoming bike lane, you would get the 3 foot rule as well! Jackpot!









But we'll see if anything changes as the SCPD officer said he would see that the officers behind the stadium will "step up their enforcement activities". Yeah right, that is what they said after the 8/17 event when I pointed out the double parking and bike lane blockage issues. I was assured "that should not have happened and we'll see that it does not happen again". The fast forward a week to 8/24, same thing again, this time I had the camera. Didn't make it to the early Sept. event but saw the same thing at the mid-Sept. event and the same thing went on Oct. 5th, this time I had my camera. 

I guess they don't want to ruffle the feathers of the goose that lays the golden egg.

At least the chief of police did collect e-mail addresses of all the cyclists in attendance and made a half-hearted promise to meet with us about the trail and perhaps go out and observe the conditions out there. Hopefully that will happen and also happen on an event day. Since if you go out there on a normal day, it is perfectly serene. At least my pictures are getting to some of the folks in the city, when I handed some prints to the secretary collecting the e-mail addresses, she mentioned that "oh, you must be the one who e-mailed these pictures to us".

But it is so funny that these jokers can't even get their own story straight. They keep talking about how 9/11 changed everything and that is what prompted the trail closure. Then someone points out that the stadium wasn't even planned until 2009, well after 9/11/(2001). Then there is some hemming and hawing and then "oh, well it was like the Boston Bombing that did it". Then someone points out that the stadium's own transportation operating plan from July 2013 showed the trail being open and that was after the Boston deal. Then more hemming and hawing and "oh it is NFL Best Practices and Homeland Security" (neither of who was present at the meeting). That seems to be the modus operandi of these meetings, always leave out the folks who are in charge of these decisions and that way the folks at the meeting can just pass the buck to the folks that are not at the meeting.

Then the best one is that they talk about needing such and such amount of security perimeter around the stadium. Then it is pointed out that on the north side, the metal detectors are like 50' from the wall of the stadium, yet on the south side they have to close the trail 3/4 of a mile from the stadium for a security perimeter. And why is that, someone asked? Oh because there is a fence and gate there. I mean they spent $2B on that heap and could not even afford to build a proper fence and gate closer to that piece of junk, sheesh! And then to top it off, the fence and gate at Agnew Rd. is simple chain link, trivial to climb over. So they have to station guards there from the evening before an event until the morning after an event to stop people from climbing the fence. Almost makes you want to slap one of these on the moron in charge of these "plans":









And two additional reasons given for closing the trail for stadium entrance and egress are it is too dangerous because fans might fall off the trail into the creek and that it is not illuminated for night use. So again, spending $1.2B on the construction and can't afford some chain link fencing and some LED trail lighting like they put on the new section of trail from Cabrillo to El Camino. That would help with so many issues they are having now, yet because the chief of police decided the trail should be closed, nobody wants to go against that decision.

On top of that, some of the local residents are complaining of drunk fans walking back through the bike path detour route into their neighborhood after the game and relieving themselves on resident's front lawns. The police say, "oh we can't close that route because it is the bike trail detour". If they would just go with their earlier plans to keep the trail open to the main parking lot and utilize that as a pedestrian/bicycle entrance, and then run the trail detour around Lafayette (with a proper safe bike lane that it now lacks) then they could close the back entrance to the public and everyone would be happier. 

My guess though is that it will take someone getting hurt or killed on that detour before anything gets done. Only problem with that is they might just permanently close the trail as being too big a liability.

The only good thing, at least for me, is my multi-year fight with the Mountain View parks and recreation commission over trail use issues may be coming to a positive outcome on Thursday night. If so, then it actually may be possible to "fight city hall and win".


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## 4Crawler

Well, some minor progress. 

I attended the Community Meeting 2 weeks ago, there were SCPD, ManagementCo and VTA folks on stage. About half the meeting was local residents with noise, traffic and misbehaving fan complaints. The other half was complaints from cyclists about the trail closure and unsafe detour. Watching the local news coverage about the meeting it all focused on the local neighbor complaints and nothing at all about the trail issues, so much for "fair and balanced reporting" that all these TV stations proclaim.

I made my pitch about the unsafe bus traffic on Stars and Stripes and left my contact info for a promised meeting between SCPD and trail users. I made the request that that meeting be at the detour during and event in order to observe first-hand the dangerous conditions. I received this response:



> Given the roles of the individuals involved in this pending meeting, I cannot ensure this meeting will take place during a stadium event. Regardless, meeting on site and discussing your first hand experiences will assist in the preparation and enforcement during future events.


One could take that at face value, or one could take it to read "Given the individuals involved in this pending meeting have box seats at stadium events, I cannot ensure this meeting will take place during a stadium event." .
- Free tickets to 49ers games create problems for San Jose police | ProFootballTalk

I also hit up the Santa Clara BPAC meeting last week and one of the committee members commented that "I guess the traffic situation on Stars and Stripes is all taken care of". I responded no, that it was even worse and gave them my pictures and comments. I think the BPAC is getting the idea now and two minor steps of progress were made. 

One is that a committee member made a motion to add an agenda item for a future meeting look into the violation of the 2009 EIR plan and possible CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) repercussions. I was not able to stick around for the full meeting, but if that motion carried, then at least the topic will be up for real discussion at some upcoming meeting. Without that, it is all just talk and per the Brown Act (FAP - Brown Act), until a topic is on a published agenda, no real action can be taken, so this is a small but important step. In my Mt. View issue, it took about 1.5 years for my agenda item to get added to a meeting agenda.

Then a second small step was a suggestion to look into the wording of the trail "closure" from dusk to dawn. This was explained as a liability issue, if the city says it is closed and someone gets hurt at night, then that person was breaking the law. But it puts hundreds of trail users/commuters in the moral dilemma every day whether to use the trail early in the morning or later at night to go to of from work. It was proposed that the city change the wording to a "use at your own risk" policy after dark, but that the trail remains "open". This seemed to be well received and it sounded like with the current "closed at night" rule, there was never any enforcement. 

What this does though is take away one excuse ManagementCo has for keeping the trail closed as long as they have been. Right now if they say the trail will close at 2AM before and 2AM after an event, if they decide that since the trail is officially "closed" from sundown to sunrise, then what difference does it make if we close at 10PM and open it at 4AM, 6AM, etc. It is when that 6AM then slips to 8 or 9AM, now you have trail users commuting to work Monday morning affected. And that was one argument given to closing the trail south of the stadium as well that it is closed after dark anyway, and since many events let out after dark, we may as well block that section of trail.

And to date, no meeting where I was invited. But there was a meeting with an SVBC board member, a Santa Clara BPAC member, SCPD and ManagementCo and they have worked out a minor compromise to allow bike riders (only) with tickets to ride north from Agnew to a bike parking area on the south side of the stadium. Trail will close at 9AM-3PM this coming Friday, then open at Agnew Rd. from 3PM to 7PM? for ticket-holding cyclists to enter. No pedestrian access and no unticketed access. More info below:
- Cyclelicious » Levi?s Stadium pilots trail entry for Cal ? Oregon game Friday

At least there was some recognition of the safety issues I have raised, will need to see if anything actually changes. Not sure if I can make it down Friday evening, I guess it is legal to ride the trail detour after dark, with proper lighting, since it is on city streets. At the last minute they changed the 9AM-3PM trail closing to 1PM-3PM, which is good, but the official SCPD notice for the change was sent out at 12:44PM, so only 16 minutes before the end of the changed time. Oh well, at least they tried, but there is a time-value to information that they just don't seem to get (I reported this issue to SCPD).

Also, I went out on the Stars and Stripes the other weekend with tape measure and the parking lanes where the 9' wide buses are parked are exactly 9' wide. So unless the bus driver is can park a 60' long bus with his sidewalls touching the curb on both ends, that bus will protrude into the bike lane. And on the tight inner curve under Tasman, with that radius, even if the bus tires are touching the curb, the ends of the bus will protrude out into the bike lane. Interestingly, the city realized this when they striped those lanes and in that narrowed area, they have "24 minute max. stopping time" signs up to stop train users from parking regular size vehicles in those tight lanes during the day. So here are parking lanes so narrow as to be signed off for other than passenger drop-off and pick-up, yet during games, they are "parking" huge tour buses there for 3+ hours during a game so they can pick up employees after the game. 

So not only is the bus traffic violating the law by parking on the bike lanes, but they are also parking longer than 24 minutes per the signage, double parking and crossing double yellow lines. Now I realize this is a highly congested area. It is the only service access to the stadium and the bus/truck drivers are all professional and all probably have radios to talk to each other. But this is no place to have cyclists and other trail users wandering about. I am actually surprised they even allow access back there. If things were turned around such that that area were closed and maybe some fans were demanding access to get back to the driveway used by the players, these same officials would be making the same arguments as to why the present trail is closed as reasons that Stars and Strips is closed, too dangerous, security issues, not designed for that type of access and so on.


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