San Jose trail with BART connection gets thumbs up by City Council

A major part of a San Jose trail proposal decades in the making was given a unanimous thumbs up by councilmembers on Tuesday, allowing the city to take over the last chunk of land necessary to finish the project.

The Five Wounds Trail will give pedestrians and cyclists the ability to travel north to south over a 2.17-mile paved pathway in the city’s Little Portugal neighborhood — with an expected completion date by 2031.

Crucially, the route will offer a connection to the future Little Portugal BART station and access to both the Coyote Creek Trail to the south and the Lower Silver Creek Trail to the north.  Efforts to get the trail up and running started in the early 2000s.

“San Jose has one of the best trail systems in the country,” said Bill Rankin, who has been a key supporter of the trail, during public comment on Tuesday. “The Five Wounds Trail is a critical connection in the city.”

Councilmember Domingo Candelas, who was a member of one of the trail’s advocacy groups, said the project has been “a long time coming.”

“Community-driven projects like this should be at the forefront of what we as policymakers advocate for when we come to work every day,” he said.

The council’s vote on Tuesday secured a stretch of railroad tracks owned by the Valley Transportation Authority for no cost — though the city will likely have to pay around $5 million to clean up environmental hazards that have been detected along the path. In addition to access to transportation hubs, the trail also will be near major city landmarks like the Japanese Friendship Garden, San Jose State University’s campus and Happy Hollow Park and Zoo. Officials also expect exercise equipment and other amenities to be placed along the way.

The path is named after the neighborhood’s Five Wounds Portuguese National Church, which will be visible along the trail.