City of San José
Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee
May 18, 2026
To: Transportation and Environment Committee
RE: Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Report to the Transportation and Environment Committee
Honorable City Councilmembers,
Please accept this report from the San José Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee as part of the June 8, 2026, Vision Zero Action Plan Update.
Background
The San José Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) appreciates the opportunity to present as part of the Vision Zero Program Status Report, BPAC’s third direct report to the Transportation and Environment Committee (T&E). As an advisory committee with expertise and lived experience, we have perspectives that we would like to share as T&E makes decisions about the future of transportation in San José.
BPAC is an advisory body with the role of advising the Department of Transportation (DOT) on issues affecting active transportation in San José. BPAC provides recommendations on projects, policies, and priorities that affect walking and biking; acts as a liaison to the community; and promotes safety and community involvement.
This report will cover a select list of BPAC's priorities along with responses to select City reports and activities from the last six months. For more information on BPAC, including additional priorities and recent activities, see our fall 2025 report1. Accomplishments Community Engagement at Viva Calle
The BPAC committee has had a presence at Viva Calle over the last few years, most recently the April 19th event. We have been able to hear from cyclists and pedestrians in the community, seeing almost unanimous support for safer streets and enthusiasm for cycling in San José from citizens throughout the city. We have handed out bicycle route maps and solicited information from cyclists about areas of concern they have in their neighborhoods. 1 Attachment A within https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=14821047&GUID=ABB32019-5BAA-4FF0-B976- F4E1FDCE8FD5 — Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Report to the Transportation and Environment Committee SAN JOSÉ BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
May 18, 2026
Integrated Waste Management (IWM) Collaboration
On September 26, 2023, the City Auditor’s report on the Integrated Waste Management Program2 (IWM) was accepted by the City Council, including “staff direction to return to T&E with enforcement options to keep bike lanes clear from any obstructions.” This issue matters deeply to BPAC and to the public: waste bins and yard trimmings placed in bike lanes force cyclists into the path of vehicles and are nearly invisible at night.
Since then, IWM has reported to BPAC on four occasions. The discussions have been productive, and BPAC appreciates IWM’s partnership. A recent milestone was the Cart Safety Reflective Sticker Pilot Project. In October 2025, reflective decals were affixed to all residential waste carts on segments of six streets with bike lanes, for a total of 2.5k carts. Installation was completed primarily by City staff, with support from BPAC volunteers and members of the public. The decals serve two purposes: improving cart visibility to cyclists at night and displaying the message “KEEP CART OUT OF BIKE LANE" prominently to property owners.
Post-installation pictures can be seen in Attachment B.
Anecdotes suggest that residential setout compliance improved immediately following installation. Whether compliance is statistically improved relative to non-pilot streets with bike lanes has not been determined. BPAC looks forward to hearing IWM’s learnings and next steps.
Consistent education and enforcement for waste haulers remains necessary, as haulers are still observed returning empty carts into bike lanes. More efficient approaches to educating — and, where needed, citing — repeat-offending cart owners are also needed. One idea from BPAC: combining existing zero-waste audits with setout compliance audits, so that a single inspector could issue two separate pass/fail hangers per cart visit.
Committee Statements and Priorities
BPAC unanimously adopted a set of one-sentence statements reflecting the collective view of the Committee. The full document is attached to this memo as Attachment A.
Budget Priorities for FY26-27
BPAC unanimously adopted a letter to City Council expressing our FY26-27 budget priorities.
1. Redirect a portion of SB-1 gas tax funds to street safety projects.
2. Fund safety improvements in school zones.
3. Fund timely trail underpass clearing after storms.
4. Update the Complete Streets Design Standards and accelerate project delivery.
Priorities
The BPAC would like to highlight a few policy priorities for T&E to consider, including:
Trail Maintenance: BPAC recommends treating trail underpass cleanup as a 2 https://sanjose.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6346698&GUID=BCB12265-9748-45B6-A9E5- AB2C71117C22&Options=&Search= — Integrated Waste Management Enforcement Program Audit Report.
SAN JOSÉ BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
May 18, 2026
transportation priority.
Vision Zero: Accelerate quick-build delivery, expand school-zone safety treatments, and use AB 43/AB 382 to lower school zone speed limits to their legal minimums.
Reimagining Santa Clara Street: BPAC favors the Mosaic linear park design and would prefer to see a car-free promenade with dedicated transit lanes.
GRT Bike Connections: Keep Ewert Road permanently open to cyclists.
Trails maintenance
Situation
Based on staff updates, BPAC discussion, and public comment, it is clear that winter flooding along San José's river trails — particularly the Guadalupe River Trail (GRT) — is short in duration but long in impact. While river levels typically recede below trail elevation within 12–24 hours at most underpasses, poor drainage and delayed post-storm cleanup leave mud, debris, and a slick residue ("film") in undercrossings for weeks or even months. These conditions disproportionately affect a few repeatedly flooding underpasses — notably Tasman, Highway 101, Trimble, and Montague on the GRT — yet they effectively disable large portions of the trail network each winter for a trail that sees approximately 750,000 users annually.
At our December 2025 meeting, BPAC held a discussion with Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services (PRNS) to learn about trails maintenance. The discussion highlighted structural and organizational constraints contributing to extended underpass hazards. The trails maintenance program within PRNS has limited equipment and staffing, relies on contractors for film removal, and must coordinate with DOT for larger debris. Environmental regulations constrain certain cleanup methods, and coordination with Valley Water on drainage improvements appears limited. By contrast, the neighboring City of Santa Clara clears comparable underpasses (e.g. on San Thomas Trail) more quickly and consistently. The cumulative effect in San José is a perception that trails are deprioritized relative to roadways, despite their function as active transportation corridors.
Recommendations
We respectfully recommend that the City treat trail underpass flooding and post-storm cleanup as a transportation reliability issue, comparable in priority to roadway flooding.
Because the primary disruption arises after waters recede — not during peak flooding — there is a meaningful opportunity to improve outcomes through faster inspection, staged cleanup, and more proactive resource deployment. Even partial or phased cleaning of slow-draining underpasses could restore safe, passable conditions sooner rather than waiting for full drainage.
We also recommend targeted operational and capital adjustments focused on the most problematic locations:
Benchmark trails maintenance staffing, equipment, and response protocols against peer cities such as Santa Clara.
Evaluate the cost-benefit of owning specialized film-removal equipment rather than SAN JOSÉ BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
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relying exclusively on contractors.
Pre-budget PRNS–DOT collaboration for predictable winter workloads to avoid delays from real-time interdepartmental requests.
Leverage existing Valley Water sensors as post-storm inspection triggers and strengthen coordination with Valley Water on drainage maintenance.
These challenges are concentrated in a handful of underpasses for a few months each year, so meaningful improvements are achievable with modest budget impact while significantly improving safety, reducing liability, and restoring confidence in San José’s trail network.
These recommendations align with the new Council-adopted Climate Adaptation & Resilience Plan (CARP), Measure 4 - PS "Priority Streets and Trails," Strategy PS-1: "Identify Tier 1 and Tier 2 Priority Corridors, trails, and intersections that align with major transit routes and evacuation routes for the prioritized clearing of leaves, branches and debris after major storms."
Photos of the Trimble Road underpass, taken around 10/24/2025, roughly two weeks after the underpass initially flooded. The trail is partially dry and could be partially cleaned, but no cleaning occurs until all water has evaporated and mud has fully caked. Tracked-out mud is a fall hazard in dry conditions and becomes more dangerous with any precipitation.
Vision Zero
BPAC fully supports City Council's direction to deploy quick-build projects as quickly as possible. While DOT's May 2025 report noted that some quick-builds were implemented within 12 months, BPAC urges continued commitment to improving the median speed of quick-build implementation from conception to delivery, followed by reinvesting those time savings into increasing the number of quick-build projects completed each quarter. For a city that aspires to lead on innovation and Vision Zero, continued progress on this Council referral is essential.
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We recommend that quick-build delivery metrics be shared via live, public-facing dashboards.
Post-delivery reports and photos of major completed quick-build projects, published on the project web pages, would help build public and Council support for future investments.
BPAC urges significantly more quick-builds in the vicinity of schools, where potential for injury to children walking and biking is high. In addition to high-visibility crosswalks being implemented around every school, we recommend the same holistic treatment for daylighting and No Right-Turn-on-Red measures around schools to prevent vehicle–cyclist–pedestrian incidents.
We appreciate staff and Council for utilizing AB 43 to lower speed limits on safety corridors and recommend aggressive use of AB 43 and/or the new AB 382 (Berman, 2025) to reduce school zone speed limits to their lowest legal thresholds.
AB 43 tools available:
DOT can round p85 speeds down rather than up when setting speed limits.
In Council-designated safety corridors, Council can direct DOT to lower speed limits by an additional 5 mph.
In school zones that are not within safety corridors, Council can designate the school a "facility that generates high concentrations of bicyclists or pedestrians" and direct DOT to lower speed limits by an additional 5 mph.
AB 382 tools available:
Council can direct DOT to lower any school zone speed limit to 20 mph (this will become the statewide default for "when children are present" signs in 2031).
Under certain conditions, Council can direct DOT to lower school zone speed limits to 15 mph.
Under certain conditions, Council can direct DOT to lower speed limits to 25 mph for the 500 feet preceding a school zone.
BPAC requests a staff report to T&E comparing current school zone speed limits against their legal minimums under AB 382.
Lastly, since resurfacing is a major incentive for implementing complete streets, BPAC would like the opportunity to review resurfacing projects that will not fully implement the Complete Streets treatments as listed in the bike plan. We support using pavement money as the most efficient opportunity to improve street safety for all modalities.
Reimagining Santa Clara Street, and other grand boulevards As the City begins planning a major redesign of Santa Clara Street, BPAC strongly and unanimously champions a livable, walkable, car-free city center that would serve as a gathering destination for restaurants, retail, and community life in downtown San José. Cities around the world have demonstrated that this type of urban environment attracts people precisely because it is free of automobile traffic.
SAN JOSÉ BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
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Of the two staff recommended designs, BPAC rallied behind the Mosaic design — the linear park concept — which would create a promenade that could accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, and other micromobility users moving safely through the corridor. We support the City's Transit First Policy and dedicated transit lanes along Santa Clara Street, even if private automobiles are restricted from entering.
In summary, BPAC urges the City to choose a car-free promenade design that creates a desirable gathering place and connects the City's event, retail, and dining zones through pedestrian, bicycle, and public transit access.
GRT Bike Connections
Several GRT undercrossings flood during winter, leaving bicycle commuters with no safe detour options. BPAC thanks the City Council for adopting the Guadalupe River Trail Bike Connections Plan, which advances the City's all-ages-and-abilities bicycling network goals by establishing safer detour routes. We also wish to raise two concerns beyond the Plan itself.
Cyclists currently use Ewert Road to detour around flooding at Highway 101 — a route that functions well, offers protection, and adds only approximately 0.9 miles. However, the Plan references the existence of other plans that have called for Ewert Road to be closed to bicycles. During the Draft Plan's public review meeting, most speakers urged that Ewert Road remain open to cyclists. BPAC urges the City Council, DOT, and Airport Department to amend the relevant plans to ensure bikes are permitted on Ewert Road in perpetuity.
Separately, the GRT underpass at Montague Expressway is a recurring flood location with no safe detour. BPAC asks the City to work with the County to secure improvements there.
Parking
In an urban environment, land is at a premium, and one of our great challenges is deciding how to allocate that land between competing needs. In any city, a parking space is not a neutral default; it is a policy decision that forecloses other possibilities.
BPAC believes in a vision of San José that is not car-centric, and we believe curb space is one of the most powerful tools available for realizing that vision. We urge the City to treat the curb as an opportunity for placemaking — through parklets, expanded sidewalks, outdoor dining, and other activations that make streets more welcoming to people on foot and on bikes. These investments are proven to increase local economic activity and quality of life.
BPAC recommends prioritizing curb reallocation in two areas: school zones and downtown. Daylighting intersections — removing parking within 20 feet of crosswalks — improves sightlines for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike. We support its systematic implementation near schools and busy downtown intersections.
Given the abundance of parking garages in the downtown core, BPAC recommends allocating less curb space to general-purpose Single-Occupancy Vehicle parking. Street-level curb space SAN JOSÉ BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
May 18, 2026
in the urban core is too valuable — for transit, for bikes, for people, and for commerce — to be provided as alternatives to structured parking that likely exists one block away.
Follow-Up
As an advisory committee to the Department of Transportation, we are passionate about making San José a safe city in which to move around, regardless of transportation modality.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to us for advice and support on all matters related to street safety. We also invite requests for topics to cover in our next semi-annual report. You can reach us through Ramses Madou [email protected], Division Manager.
Attachments
Attachment A. BPAC Committee Statements and Priorities
Attachment B. Images from Cart Safety Reflective Sticker Pilot Project SAN JOSÉ BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
May 18, 2026
Attachment A. BPAC Committee Statements and Priorities
First adopted on September 29, 2025; amended on March 23, 2026.
Values
BPAC advocates for human-centered mobility over car-centric infrastructure BPAC supports active transportation for everyday mobility BPAC supports Viva Calle and other Walk & Roll events
BPAC considers electric micromobility as a valid form of active transportation Safety
BPAC prioritizes bicycle and pedestrian safety on roads over the convenience of drivers BPAC supports the Safe Systems approach from San José’s Vision Zero Action Plan for solving traffic violence
BPAC believes that biking and walking should be made accessible and safe enough that a majority of students bike or walk to school
BPAC supports development and maintenance of a safe trail network Equity
BPAC advocates for active transportation that is accessible and equitable for all people in San José
BPAC believes the City should solicit feedback from minority communities on transportation decisions
BPAC believes that the City should incorporate feedback from vulnerable road users into their plans
Planning Principles
BPAC believes that the City should address network gaps to facilitate a transportation modal shift towards active transportation
BPAC believes that the City should support direct travel routes for bikes and pedestrians
BPAC supports traffic calming measures such as speed humps, bulb outs and traffic diverters
BPAC believes the City should prioritize achieving its Move San José goals for active transportation over maintaining the car-centric status quo BPAC encourages the City to market active transportation as an alternative to driving a car
SAN JOSÉ BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
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Attachment B. Images from Cart Safety Reflective Sticker Pilot Project SAN JOSÉ BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
May 18, 2026
Sincerely,
Jordan Moldow, Chairperson
BPAC Committee Members, Fiscal Year 2025-2026
Jordan Moldow, Chairperson
Ben Kennedy, Vice-Chairperson
Deanna Chevas
Tim Claes
Jeffrey Englander
Ann Ferris
Aarshdeep Kahlon
Gregory Koopman
Joyce Kuo
Minh Nguyen
Jose Posadas