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
2025 Spring Cleanup
On Saturday, April 19, Friends of Five Wounds Trail and others will be partnering with Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful for another cleanup of the future Five Wounds Trail. Sign up here: https://250419-cleanup.eventbrite.com/?aff=ffwt
2025 Update
We’re still waiting for the City of San José and VTA to sign off on the agreement for VTA to grant the City a no-cost easement for the railroad right-of-way. Since our last update, VTA has informed us that they will no longer be requiring the section of right-of-way from Whitton Avenue to E Santa Clara Street for construction staging. Once the FTA signs off on this latest development, VTA should be transferring to the City the section of right-of-way from E William Street to E Santa Clara Street. Read more about this in San José Spotlight.
The VTA Board of Directors approved a grant of $4.14 million for the development phases of master planning and design of the trail. Of the $4.14 million, the City is currently accessing $890,000 of the award to complete the master plan and the CEQA phase. After completing the master plan, City staff will then access more of the grant funds to complete the design phase. City staff will also be able to access a portion of the $4.14 million for right-of-way remediation.
In the short term, as the trail project completes the master plan and CEQA phases over the next 1 -2 years, the City will host community meetings to share progress on the master plan. As those meeting dates are set, City staff will solicit input from Friends of Five Wounds Trail and the community-at-large.
$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…