The Guadalupe River Park’s trails (click here for walking map, .pdf file) are more than just paved pedestrian areas. They are easily reached, accessible to all, suitable for commuting and for strolling, and they form critical links to trail systems that connect Bay Area communities, jobs, entertainment, recreation, the shoreline, and the mountains.

The trails along the Guadalupe River Park, collectively called the River Walk, are a part of the Guadalupe River Trail Corridor and one of the most distinctive features of the park. They will eventually form a continuous system of circulation, are designed to provide access to the river at various points, and generally pass under bridges to avoid at-grade street crossings. Some sections meander in close proximity to the river, while others are held to the top of the bank to avoid too much damage to the river’s ecology. There are a few locations where breaks in the trail system occur at properties developed long ago. When these properties are redeveloped, the city will seek dedication in order to provide linkages to park circulation.

Connections to other paths, such as the Los Gatos Creek Trail, and to transportation hubs, such as the Diridon Multimodal Station (CalTrain, bus, light rail, and in the future, BART), encourage use of the River Walk by commuters. As a visual bonus, the trails allow nature-viewing opportunities along much of the river.

The River Walk also ties into the Countywide Trails Master Plan system and is a link in a larger regional trail system that includes the Bay Area Ridge Trail and the San Francisco Bay Trail, a half-completed system that will eventually encircle the bay and stretch to the mountains. These systems are already extensively used for recreation, commuting to work, and a variety of other types of trips.

The River Walk’s trails are constructed in a manner consistent with the city’s and county’s trails master plans, sized for both pedestrians and bicycles at 12’ wide in most locations.

Visit the Trail Program’s award-winning website!

Guadalupe River Park Conservancy will be working with the City and other agencies to carefully track the progress of each project and to ensure that any inconvenience during construction is kept to a minimum. The good news is that, once these projects are completed, trail detours through the park will be eliminated and people using the park will enjoy a safer, more pleasant experience!

The City of San Jose’s Department of Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services continues to focus on trail development and has recently added more content to its Trail Program website, as a way of keeping the public informed. A trail inventory has been posted that provides an overview of all trail segments within the city.

Efforts are currently underway to produce a master plan for the Guadalupe Trail project from Alviso to Highway 880, in coordination with the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s Lower Guadalupe River Flood Protection work. With a completed master plan, city staff will be able to pursue funding opportunities to develop nearly six miles of trail. View of the Downtown Project under construction, looking south from Santa Clara Street.

Meanwhile, a master plan for the Guadalupe River Trail from Highway 280 to Willow Street is approximately 90% completed and the Los Gatos Creek Project from Lincoln Avenue to Auzerais Avenue will have its plan and environmental documentation completed by February 2004.

For questions regarding the trails, please call the City of SJ's trail coordinator, Yves Zsutty, at 408-793-5561.

Trail Update
Posted 11.10.11

Click to enlarge

The railroad trestle replacement project is finally finished. The through trail has reverted to the east alignment (in green on map) between Coleman Ave. and Julian St. Southbound trail users will still be able to reach MarketPlace stores via the west trail (blue), but the missing link (red) limits access for northbound travelers.

Water district crews recently started to remove non-native vegetation from the top of bank on the west side of the river north of Hwy 880. Their work is related to flood control and shouldn't interfere with trail use.

The long awaited paving of the trail to Alviso is anticipated to start next June.

As part of the current flood control work south of Hwy 280, the trailhead at Grant and Palm is being improved. The southbound trail continues on the west side south of Woz Way, but this east entrance gives residents of the Washington neighborhood access to downtown.

The City of San Jose will be replacing a climbing structure at Arena Green. The work will begin October 17th and wrap up the first week in December. Click here to see a map of the work to be done.

Trail Update
Posted 5.18.11

The new trail segment from Woz Way to Virginia St. opened last month, linking the Washington and Gardener neighborhoods to downtown along the west river bank. Access to the east side trail at Grant St. is temporarily closed due to the flood control project but will be improved as a trailhead once construction is completed.

The city's new trail markers are being installed along the Guadalupe River Trail. Each marker features mileage from the terminus in Alviso. Pictured are the marker closest to the Visitor & Education Center and a way-finding sign. Thanks Trail Manager Yves Zsutty for making the trail more user friendly!

Trail Update
Posted 3.8.11
Weather permitting there will be intermittent trail closures along the Guadalupe River Trail between Coleman Ave and Highway 880 on Friday April 8th, Saturday April 9th, and Sunday April 10th from 8 AM to 3 PM each day. The Parks Recreation & Neighborhood Services Department will be doing tree work including the felling of diseased and dead trees. Park staff and signage will be on site to direct users to alternate pathways.

Trail Update
Posted 1.21.11
The 237 Bike Trail between Zanker Road and the Coyote Creek Trail will be closed on Jan 25-26-27 for pavement repairs (weather permitting). This is a complete closure to all pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

Trail Update
Posted 11.1.10

Bad news - Union Pacific Railroad didn’t complete the signal work needed to finish the trestle replacement project so the trail detour between Julian St and Coleman Ave will remain in place for another year.

Good news – the paving project between Hwy. 880 and Gold St. will begin in the spring. Unfortunately, the trail will be closed for about a year during the paving, installation of trail markers, and construction of entry plazas but will connect downtown to Alviso when the trail re-opens.

Trail Update
Posted 3.29.10

South
Construction is getting underway to extend the Guadalupe River Trail further south.  The 0.4 mile trail extension will lead trail users from Woz Way at the Children’s Discovery Museum parking lot to Virginia Street.  The linkage to light rail via the Virginia Street Station will be greatly improved, and distance to the Highway 87 Bikeway will be further reduced. The project has been under development for about 6 years and results from many community meetings, master planning and successful coordination with Caltrans for use of State property along the highway. The trail will be paved and meander between the highway and river.  At several key points, the trail will travel beneath highway structures. Although noisy from highway traffic, trail users will enjoy a dramatic view of downtown’s ever changing skyline and not be impacted by seasonal flooding that is anticipated along the east bank of the river.  The trail will include two seating areas with interpretive signs about the Ohlone tribes that once lived along the river and Italian immigrant heritage of the neighborhood Washington and Greater Gardner neighborhoods.  Additional amenities include paved trail entries with a “compass” design, seating and architectural elements. These elements enrich the trail experience and contribute to the neighborhood’s sense of place. A conceptual image of the future trail improvements is posted at:

http://www.sjparks.org/Trails/GRiver/documents/plan-smallonts24X72.pdf
(3.57 .pdf file)

The project is anticipated to be complete by December 31, 2010.

North
The paving of Guadalupe River Trail from Hwy 880 north to Gold St. in Alviso will start later this year. Unfortunately, that section of the trail will be closed during the construction period, but the resulting paved path should be worth the wait. The project start date hasn’t been determined - we will pass along the information once it’s announced.

Trail Update
Posted 6.29.09

Trail Update

At long last, the ruts north of Airport Blvd. are being smoothed out. From the City of San Jose,

“We will have a contractor repairing the damaged dirt trail on Monday through Wednesday of next week. As an alternate route, please use the west bank trail, north of Airport to reach Green Island Bridge. Hopefully this minor rerouting won’t be too inconvenient. After Wednesday, trail users will enjoy a much improved gravel trail.”