Save Our Trails to host Trail Cleanup of recently expanded section of the Three Creeks Trail

Save Our Trails Fall Trail Cleanup

Put this date on your calendar; October 20, 2012.

That's the date that the folks from Save Our Trails, will be hosting a trail clean-up in Willow Glen. They'll have trash bags, t-shirts (with donation), tools, water, and the latest news about their mission to expand the trail. Volunteers are asked to meet at the corner of Coe Ave. and Leona Ct., in the Willow Glen Area of San Jose. Leona Ct. is two blocks east of Lincoln Ave.

The Three-Creeks Trail is envisioned as a multi-use trail running over a former Union Pacific railroad line stretching from Lonus Street near Lincoln out to Kelley Park. Originally this trail was named after the railroad line, which was called “The Willow Glen Spur” because a portion of it went through the town of Willow Glen.

In 2008 a community advocate recommended that the name of the future trail should be the Three Creeks Trail because it intersects three creek trails: the Los Gatos Creek trail, the Guadalupe Creek trail, and the Coyote Creek Trail. This trail would be extremely useful for anyone who travels cross town because of the intersections with so many other trails in the city. Trails are important to people who walk, bike, push strollers, walk dogs, or ride wheel chairs. Trails make it easier for people to commute, get exercise, and socialize.


View Three Creeks Trail in a larger map

This line was abandoned for use in 2000, and in the same year the City of San Jose Parks Department strategic plan envisioned the purchase and conversion of this land for trail use. Union Pacific removed the rails in 2004. Since then some of the land has been purchased by other landowners, and is threatened in other ways. It is our goal to assist local government in creating a workable trail on this property.

Over the course of several years, from 2008 through 2011, the City of San Jose was engaged in a process (“Envision 2040″) to involve the community in updating the City’s General Plan. During the update process, city staff proposed to change the location of the eastern portion of the trail from the railroad right-of-way to bike lanes on Alma Street, a high-traffic truck corridor. SAVE OUR TRAILS successfully fought off this proposal, getting the Council, the Parks and Recreation Commission, and the Envision 2040 Task Force to keep the trail alignment on the railroad right-of-way. In addition, SAVE OUR TRAILS persuaded City Council to rename the trail as “the Three Creeks Trail”, in recognition of the fact that the trail will be providing an essential east-west path, linking three separate north-south trail corridors.



Save Our Trails is also on Facebook.