Trail
The Five Wounds Trail runs from Coyote Creek at Story Road under I-280 to the iconic Five Wounds Portuguese National Church on East Santa Clara Street and north across Julian Street to Hwy 101 and Lower Silver Creek, connecting the Coyote Creek and future Lower Silver Creek Trails and providing a crucial link in the citywide trail system. Part of the trail from I-280 to East William Street is already completed. The city of San José owns the trail from Story Road to Selma Olinder Park near I-280. The next stretch is a widened sidewalk running north to East William Street. The 1.5 mile stretch of trail that runs from East William Street to Five Wounds Church on East Santa Clara Street and continues to Hwy 101 and Lower Silver Creek, the “upper Five Wounds Trail”, is an abandoned railroad right-of-way currently owned by the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).
Friends
Friends of the Five Wounds Trail is a group of residents of the Five Wounds/Brookwood Terrace neighborhoods and allies, including Save Our Trails, the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and the San Jose Parks Foundation. We’ve succeeded in having the trail included in the city’s new general plan as parkland/open space and gaining recognition from the county. Now our goal is the acquisition of the trail lands and development of an urban trail that links San Jose’s creekside trails. We’re working with the city, county and VTA to achieve this. Our current focus is on county acquisition of the trail from East William Street to Shortridge Avenue or East San Fernando Street. Meanwhile, we’re caring for the future trail lands with semi-annual cleanups.
Northbound Tour
Southbound Tour
News from the City of San José
VTA Real Estate has told the City of San José that they have received approval from BART Phase II to release the former railroad right-of-way south of E Santa Clara Street. This means that the Five Wounds Trail may now be designed and scoped from E William Street to E Santa Clara Street.
2023 Year-End Update
It was a year of significant progress for the Five Wounds Trail!
The City of San José and VTA reached an agreement for VTA to grant the City a no-cost easement for the railroad right-of-way from E William Street to Lower Silver Creek. The actual transfer of property will occur in phases as VTA no longer needs the right-of-way for BART construction staging. The Council delegated the authority to acquire trail property by separate parcel agreements to the City Manager. This is currently in progress for the trail segment between E William Street and Whitton Avenue. Read an article about this in San José Spotlight.
The City will move forward with a formal Master Plan for the entire length of the trail when VTA releases the land between Whitton Avenue and E Santa Clara Street. FFWT should lobby VTA Board Members to release the Whitton to E Santa Clara segment sooner rather than later.
Santa Clara County and the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority have partnered with the City on the trail. In January 2024, the Boards of each agency approved an allocation of $500,000 for the trail. That’s a relatively small sum in relation to the ultimate cost of building the trail, but the partnership will be important for future fundraising and grant applications.
Meanwhile, VTA and the City are finalizing the updated Five Wounds Urban Village Plan. This includes plans for the trail from E Santa Clara Street to E Julian Street. VTA and City planners will present their final report at a community meeting this Spring. We’ll let you know when and where so that you may attend. You can learn more about this planning process here.
No decision has been made on the future of the railroad trestle at Story Road. The trestle study may be found here. The northern crossing over Lower Silver Creek will be studied in the near future. It could be a new bridge or an easement to access the existing bridge that serves the Eggo plant at the end of Wooster Avenue.
S 22nd Street between E William and I-280 has been designated a bike boulevard to make that stretch of the trail safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and micro mobility users.
Several new developments have been proposed in the urban village area. Working with our councilmember, we need to ensure that park fees paid by developers building in our area are designated for the Five Wounds Trail.
Next steps:
- Work with the City to maximize VTA release of trail property.
- Make sure the updated Five Wounds Urban Village Plan is consistent with our vision.
- Ensure that park fees paid by developments in the Five Wounds Urban Village are designated for the trail.
2023 Fall Cleanup
On Saturday, September 23, Friends of Five Wounds Trail and others partnered once again with Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful for another cleanup of the future Five Wounds Trail through Coyote Meadows. 40 out of 145 total volunteers worked on the trail; 90 garbage bags and more piles of tires, car parts, and other assorted junk totaling 6,360 pounds were hauled away by city staff. Mayor Mahan, Supervisor Chavez and Councilmember Bien Doan also came out to help.
2023 Spring Cleanup
On Saturday, April 23, Friends of Five Wounds Trail and others partnered with Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful for another cleanup of the future Five Wounds Trail through Coyote Meadows. 22 volunteers finished early because the trail was nowhere near as trashed as we’ve seen it in the past. Overall, only 3.4 tons was hauled away by Paul Pereira of the mayor’s office and his team. About half was trash and half were metals. More than half of the metal weight was shopping carts. Thank you everyone! And thanks to City Trails Manager Liz Sewell for joining us. Especially BIG THANKS to all our volunteers!
$4.14 million for Five Wounds Trail
Great news! The VTA Board of Directors has approved a grant of $4.14 million dollars for the environmental, planning and design work needed to advance our project! Congratulations and thanks to Yves Zsutty and San José’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services for their fine work on the grant application and to the VTA Board of Directors, especially Raul Peralez, Sam Liccardo and Cindy Chavez, for helping get the grant over the finish line. By the way, one criterion for approval of the grant was community engagement–that’s YOU! All those cleanups, all those meetings. We’re making progress! Happy Trails!
Plans
Five Wounds/Brookwood Terrace BART Station Area Community Concept Plan
Documents the community’s vision for future development in and around the proposed subway BART station behind Five Wounds Portuguese National Church. The idea of turning the abandoned railroad right-of-way into a trail is first surfaced in this plan. Chapter IV, Section D on page 95 addresses the community’s vision for the trail. Read more…
City of San José Urban Village Plans for Five Wounds/Brookwood Terrace
The Five Wounds, Roosevelt Park, Little Portugal, and 24th & William Street Urban Village Plans were derived from the BART Station Area Community Concept Plan. Community leaders worked with city planning staff over two years to ensure that the village plans adhered to the community’s original intent laid out in the Concept Plan. The four resultant village plans were approved by the City Council to become part of the city’s General Plan in November, 2013. Read more…
VTA letter acknowledging that the future of the railroad right-of-way is a trail
“VTA has had recent communications with the city of San Jose staff on the proposed Five Wounds Trail. To summarize our position, VTA supports the Five Wounds Trail Project and supports bicycle and pedestrian access to the BART Silicon Valley Corridor. VTA’s highest priority for the former Union Pacific Railroad corridor south of US 101 is to facilitate the implementation of the BART Project. As part of this effort, VTA recognizes the need for corridor preservation for the proposed trail extending from East William Street to Silver Creek.” Read more…