Attachment
Subject: Bike Plan 2025 and Trail Network Annual Update
Appendix F
Maintenance and Operations
On-Street Bikeways
A major challenge that the City faces in implementing its on-street bikeways network is competing uses within constrained public right-of-way. In many locations, the combination of high demand for on-street parking, frequent driveways, and bikeways results in residents and businesses placing yard waste, recycling, and trash out for collection in ways that violate set-out requirements in the San José Municipal Code. As the City expands its bikeways infrastructure, concerns have increased regarding debris, waste bins, and yard trimming collection blocking on-street bikeways. Staff in the Environmental Services Department (ESD) and DOT are actively coordinating solutions to these concerns.
ESD launched the Reflective Sticker Project, in partnership with DOT, in fall 2025 to enhance cart visibility, reduce collision risks, and provide proper set-out instructions through the installation of reflective educational stickers on residential and commercial waste collection carts along six corridors. Locations were selected in coordination with DOT and the City’s solid waste service providers, focusing on streets with large volumes of resident-reported concerns along with staff and service provider observations of carts obstructing bikeways. Stickers were placed on over 2,100 carts and provided to all five solid waste service providers to use in instances of additional bikeway obstruction. Staff plan to issue a community survey for project feedback in summer 2026. Initial anecdotal feedback from members of the public suggests promising results.
The Reflective Sticker Project includes the following corridors, with examples shown in the images below:
3rd Street, Jackson Street to Keyes Street
7th Street, Empire Street to Humboldt Street
Bird Avenue, Vernon Avenue to Malone Road
Empire Street, 1st Street to 22nd Street
King Road, McKee Road to Aborn Road
Park Avenue, Idaho Street to Delmas Avenue
Attachment
Subject: Bike Plan 2025 and Trail Network Annual Update
Left: Example of a garbage cart with “Keep Cart Right: Carts with stickers along Empire Street.
Out of Bike Lane” sticker.
Additionally, DOT has also been adding features, such as rubber curbing, to bikeways to assist with dumpster set-out and collection. This work is being coordinated with ESD and is primarily located in Downtown. The images below show examples of this work.
DOT has also been coordinating design of future bikeway improvements with ESD to proactively address issues during the planning phases of new projects.
Left and Right: Examples of rubber curbing along protected bikeways in Downtown to assist with dumpster set-out.
Trails
During Fiscal Year 2024 to 2025, the City’s BeautifySJ program removed 5,068.5 tons of debris and trash across waterways, land sites, and interagency areas, including along the City’s trail network. Waterway routes collected 587 tons through regular service, and 1,059 abatements citywide resulted in 1,641 tons of debris removed from land, Attachment
Subject: Bike Plan 2025 and Trail Network Annual Update
waterways, and impact mitigation sites, including 17.5 miles of waterways. Following the establishment of No Return Zones, active encampment locations decreased 16 percent and tents and structures declined 58 percent. Trail use increased after the No Return Zone designation along the Guadalupe River Trail, with a thirty-six percent increase in weekday trail user counts at Coleman Avenue up 36 percent and 110 percent at Woz Way as compared to March 2024. Ongoing maintenance and operations of the trail system continue to require coordinated encampment management, routine trash collection, waterway clearing, and interagency partnership to support safe and accessible conditions for people walking and biking on trails.