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Three Creeks Trail Bridge and Los Gatos Creek Trail, 1/8/21 by Ronald Horii
On Tuesday, January 5, 2021, the Three Creeks Trail bridge over Los Gatos Creek officially opened, according to the Mercury News:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/01/06/bridge-replacing-the-willow-glen-trestle-finally-opens-to-the-public-the-end/
Here's the virtual grand opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR0p48lE7xshPUTxCk5rJ-8zTgykblgna9uubBi39iiCkMk2nL2sRj8aOIk&v=IFmvnZwnk_A&feature=youtu.be
After a long fight by preservationists and community members to save the historic wooden Willow Glen Trestle, it was torn down and replaced with a modern steel truss bridge. This is about the efforts to save the trestle: http://wgtrestle.org/
This is an article about what happened to it: https://sanjosespotlight.com/how-a-seven-year-fight-to-save-a-san-jose-trestle-ended/
Here's another article: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/23/the-long-saga-of-the-willow-glen-trestle-comes-to-an-end/
The new bridge is 210 feet long, 14 feet wide, made of steel, with a concrete deck. It has a 32-foot long walkway and viewing deck on the south side. It turns the Three Creeks Trail from a no-creek trail to a 1-creek trail, with 2 to go (the Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek). The trail used to run from Coe Avenue to Falcon Place, very close to the Guadalupe River. Now with the bridge, the trail crosses Los Gatos Creek and runs to Lonus Street, where an isolated segment of the Los Gatos Creek Trail starts and goes under I-280 to W. San Carlos St.
The Three Creeks Trail was originally called the Willow Glen Spur, which was the name of the rail line that went into Willow Glen to pick up canned fruit for shipping. After the rail line was removed, it became a trail. This is what it looked like in 2013, when the Willow Glen Trestle was still in place: https://tinyurl.com/y2el79lq
The trail went through a major facelift that was completed in 2018. Here are my pictures of it back then: https://tinyurl.com/y6pqjofh
This is about the Three Creeks Trail: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/3025/2028?npage=14
This is about the Los Gatos Creek Trail (San Jose's part): https://www.sanjoseca.gov/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/2999/2058?npage=2
Here's a map: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument?id=20635
The Los Gatos Creek Trail segment that starts at Lonus Street leads to the new Del Monte Park and neighborhood built on the site of the old Del Monte cannery. Here are pictures of it from Sept. 2020: https://tinyurl.com/y2egwco4
The south part of the Los Gatos Creek Trail starts at Meridian Avenue and runs non-stop and off-road all the way to Lexington Reservoir, with few street crossings. To get from Meridian to Lonus Street requires following an on-street route. It used to require travelling on busy Lincoln Avenue, including an unsignalized crossing of Lincoln at Lonus. The Three Creeks Trail extension allows using a crossing signal at Coe Avenue and Lincoln and using Coe and the Three Creeks Trail to get to the Lonus Street section of the Los Gatos Creek Trail. This is much safer.
The south part of the Los Gatos Creek Trail runs through San Jose, Campbell, Los Gatos, and unincorporated Santa Clara County. It runs through several parks, including Los Gatos Creek County Park, Vasona County Park, and ends at Lexington County Park. Here's information about the trail: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/LosGatosCreek.aspx
Here are more of my pictures of the Los Gatos Creek Trail and Los Gatos Creek Park: http://www.rhorii.com/#LosGatosCreekPark-Trail
On Tuesday, January 5, 2021, the Three Creeks Trail bridge over Los Gatos Creek officially opened, according to the Mercury News:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/01/06/bridge-replacing-the-willow-glen-trestle-finally-opens-to-the-public-the-end/
Here's the virtual grand opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR0p48lE7xshPUTxCk5rJ-8zTgykblgna9uubBi39iiCkMk2nL2sRj8aOIk&v=IFmvnZwnk_A&feature=youtu.be
After a long fight by preservationists and community members to save the historic wooden Willow Glen Trestle, it was torn down and replaced with a modern steel truss bridge. This is about the efforts to save the trestle: http://wgtrestle.org/
This is an article about what happened to it: https://sanjosespotlight.com/how-a-seven-year-fight-to-save-a-san-jose-trestle-ended/
Here's another article: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/23/the-long-saga-of-the-willow-glen-trestle-comes-to-an-end/
The new bridge is 210 feet long, 14 feet wide, made of steel, with a concrete deck. It has a 32-foot long walkway and viewing deck on the south side. It turns the Three Creeks Trail from a no-creek trail to a 1-creek trail, with 2 to go (the Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek). The trail used to run from Coe Avenue to Falcon Place, very close to the Guadalupe River. Now with the bridge, the trail crosses Los Gatos Creek and runs to Lonus Street, where an isolated segment of the Los Gatos Creek Trail starts and goes under I-280 to W. San Carlos St.
The Three Creeks Trail was originally called the Willow Glen Spur, which was the name of the rail line that went into Willow Glen to pick up canned fruit for shipping. After the rail line was removed, it became a trail. This is what it looked like in 2013, when the Willow Glen Trestle was still in place: https://tinyurl.com/y2el79lq
The trail went through a major facelift that was completed in 2018. Here are my pictures of it back then: https://tinyurl.com/y6pqjofh
This is about the Three Creeks Trail: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/3025/2028?npage=14
This is about the Los Gatos Creek Trail (San Jose's part): https://www.sanjoseca.gov/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/2999/2058?npage=2
Here's a map: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument?id=20635
The Los Gatos Creek Trail segment that starts at Lonus Street leads to the new Del Monte Park and neighborhood built on the site of the old Del Monte cannery. Here are pictures of it from Sept. 2020: https://tinyurl.com/y2egwco4
The south part of the Los Gatos Creek Trail starts at Meridian Avenue and runs non-stop and off-road all the way to Lexington Reservoir, with few street crossings. To get from Meridian to Lonus Street requires following an on-street route. It used to require travelling on busy Lincoln Avenue, including an unsignalized crossing of Lincoln at Lonus. The Three Creeks Trail extension allows using a crossing signal at Coe Avenue and Lincoln and using Coe and the Three Creeks Trail to get to the Lonus Street section of the Los Gatos Creek Trail. This is much safer.
The south part of the Los Gatos Creek Trail runs through San Jose, Campbell, Los Gatos, and unincorporated Santa Clara County. It runs through several parks, including Los Gatos Creek County Park, Vasona County Park, and ends at Lexington County Park. Here's information about the trail: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/LosGatosCreek.aspx
Here are more of my pictures of the Los Gatos Creek Trail and Los Gatos Creek Park: http://www.rhorii.com/#LosGatosCreekPark-Trail
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