City of San José
Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee
October 5, 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 October 5, 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 fourth 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 spring 2026 report.
Priorities
BPAC’s adopted set of one-sentence statements reflecting the collective view of the Committee is attached to this memo as Appendix B. In this report, the BPAC would like to highlight a few policy priorities for T&E to consider, including:
1. Trail Maintenance: Treating trail underpass cleanup as a transportation priority.
2. 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.
3. Ewert Road: Keep Ewert Road permanently open to cyclists as a flood detour.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 2
4. Policy Recommendations in Better Bike Plan 2025: Implement lower speeds limits, adjust mode priority, and make protected bikeways the preferred bikeway treatment on all roads in accordance with the bike plan.
5. Move San José: Reduce vehicle miles travelled, promote emerging mobility, shift culture though transportation management, and provide better connectivity in the City’s bikeways network.
6. SB-1 gas tax funds: Redirect a portion of SB-1 gas tax funds to fully fund the Vision Zero Action Plan and other critical safety improvements.
7. Update the Complete Streets Design Standards to increase the safety of every project.
8. Major Events: Expand and ensure access for people walking and biking.
1. Trail Maintenance
This entry from our spring 2026 report (included as Appendix A) is still a high priority for BPAC, and still needs addressing. We are very close to the rainy season, and El Niño might bring more rain. As we have repeated many times, it is not a problem that the underpasses will flood, but it is a problem that the underpasses do not drain fast enough and the underpasses are not cleaned between floods and left hazardous and unusable for many months between floods.
2. Vision Zero
BPAC continues to fully support City Council's direction to deploy quick-build projects as rapidly as possible and supports the post build follow-up. We continue to recommend that quick-build delivery metrics be shared via live, public-facing dashboards. Post-delivery reports and photos of major completed quick-built projects, published on the project web pages, would help garner public and Council support for future investments.
The presence of quick build projects in the vicinity of schools, along with high visibility crossings, decreasing speed limits to as low as is legally possible in these pedestrian and bike heavy areas, continued enforcement of daylighting, and family education through Walk and Roll programs will make the greatest difference in safety around schools. We strongly support more resources for this program, and ongoing attention to lowering speed limits whenever possible.
We also urge Council to work with staff to identify project delivery bottlenecks that can be relieved within existing budget constraints, via procedural or technological innovations. For the safety of our residents, it is imperative that the City find ways to deliver more quick-build projects per year, and deliver each one more quickly and affordably from conception to completion.
3. Ewert Road
BPAC urges the City Council, DOT, and Airport Department to amend the relevant plans to ensure bikes are permitted on Ewert Road in perpetuity. BPAC also affirms that a bicycle connection around the north side of the airport, south of 101 and De La Cruz Boulevard Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 3 is important to the bicycling community, regardless of any connections that are built in any other locations.
On August 24, the Santa Clara Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee voted in support of those same two recommendations.
Cyclists currently use Ewert Road and Airport Boulevard to detour around flooding at Trimble Road and Highway 101 — a route that functions well, offers protection, and adds only approximately 0.9 miles. However, the airport decided that Ewert Road would be closed to cyclists. During the GRT Bike Connection Plan public review meeting, a majority of speakers urged that Ewert Road remain open to cyclists. Since then, over one hundred people have signed an open letter to push for the same. BPAC meetings in both San José and Santa Clara discussed the Ewert Road closure, and the public commenters and committee members were overwhelmingly in support of Ewert Road as a cycling route.
Ewert Road isn't a shortcut, and it isn’t redundant with any other infrastructure. It's a flat, direct east–west link off the Guadalupe River Trail to get around the airport between San José and Santa Clara. Ewert Road has had a public bike path for all thirty years of its existence. The road and bike infrastructure was constructed in 1996 with Council-approved TDA-3 funds.
There was no Council vote and no public hearing — just a 2021 memo privately arranged between the Director of Aviation and the Director of Transportation. The deal was made with no acknowledgement of the trail's drainage and cleaning problems, no engineering fix or budget to solve them, and no acknowledgement of the hazards of the alternative on-street routes. The alternative forces riders to cross Highway 101 twice, add a mile, and mix with fast merging traffic — less safe, and it cuts the trail in half in flood season.
At the August 2021 interchange community meeting, VTA's own Highway Program Manager was asked, on the record, whether cyclists could still use this route. His answer was one word:
"Yes." The De La Cruz and Central interchange was designed for this detour. The two-way crossbike and bike signals built there connect to one place — Ewert Road. Closing it strands infrastructure taxpayers just paid for.
See Appendix C for a timeline that documents the development and history of Ewert Road, along with a map of the route and its detours, and present-day street view imagery.
4. Policy Recommendations in Better Bike Plan 2025
Better Bike Plan 2025, adopted by the City Council in October 2020, is more than just a map of planned bikeways. It contains bold, thoughtfully considered policy recommendations to achieve a variety of City goals. While the City has made progress on implementing its bikeway network and select bike plan policies, there are many policies that remain either partially implemented or unimplemented. We urge T&E and the City Council to ensure that progress is made on these policies, including the legislative recommendations contained in the plan.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 4 Of the nearly 60 policies included in the plan, BPAC would like to highlight the following:
• Lower speed limits and design speeds along bikeway corridors without physical protection to 25 miles-per-hour or lower.
• Adjust mode priority in design and network planning to achieve the walking- and bicycling-first city called for in Envision San José 2040. In urban villages, Downtown, and similar contexts, single-occupancy vehicles should be the lowest priority. • Bring the Functional Classification Diagram of Street Typologies in Envision San José 2040 and the City’s Complete Streets Design Standards and Guidelines into alignment to clearly articulate that protected bikeways are the preferred bikeway treatment on all roads aside from low-volume neighborhood streets.
Regarding the lowering of speed limits: BPAC appreciates the AB 43 speed limit reductions that have been done so far. We look forward to more AB 43 speed limit reductions in the future, on roads with "high concentrations of bicyclists or pedestrians."
5. Move San José
5.1. Vehicle Miles Traveled
BPAC is heartened to hear that, per the 2026 Move San José report, daily VMT decreased by 3% from 2024 to 2025. We recommend that San José maintain its progress at building out the active transportation network and implementing the rest of the Move San José plan. San José will likely need to accelerate its progress if the City is to meet its 2030 and 2040 VMT targets.
The trendline formed by the decrease from 2024 to 2025 shows San José not meeting its VMT targets. BPAC recommends that the City’s 2027 Move San José report should describe steps being taken, within DOT’s funding constraints, to accelerate the decrease in VMT to hit the 2030 target.
⅓ of all trips in cars are <2 miles, meaning there is a lot of low-hanging fruit for improvement. • Continuing to expand - and promote - Lyft Bikes outside of Downtown. • Increasing the amount of short- and long-term bicycle parking available at POIs and commercial/entertainment districts.
• Completing the sidewalk network and keeping it in a state of good repair. • Implementing Vision Zero and the Better Bike Plan.
• Working with VTA, County Roads, and Caltrans to address the safety and spacing of highway crossings.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 5
5.2. Emerging Mobility
In the context of various agenda items, BPAC often discusses the topic of ebikes and other emerging mobility. We are keenly aware of both the promise of these technologies, as well as the dangers. BPAC has added emerging mobility as an item in its FY 26-27 workplan, so that we may hear and provide feedback to DOT on their holistic strategies in this area.
5.3. Transportation Management
In our June 2026 report, we spoke about vehicle parking in school zones and downtown. In the brief time since then, there have been passionate conversations at Council regarding parking meter rates and hours, and parking minimums in the General Plan Four-Year Review Framework. BPAC notes that implementing the Move San José Plan is the only sustainable way to address the high demand for cheap/free parking - not by building a huge amount of new car parking (at the expense of other land uses), but by increasing the percentage of residents who have access to non-car mobility that works well for them.
Building the infrastructure is of utmost importance, but that’s not the entire story. Culture also needs to shift, and the City would do well to lead by example. The City expresses values and priorities in how it operates and communicates to residents. As such, BPAC advocates for the City to lead with a bold vision and move forward with implementing what our plans say we will do. BPAC also advocates for a bold vision as the City pursues its Reimaging Santa Clara Street project. BPAC can be a resource for how the City can plan and implement its projects in a creative way.
5.4. Connectivity
The Move San José report highlighted that “Bike connectivity between low-stress segments remains low citywide.” The City can build out miles of excellent bicycle infrastructure, but a single terrifying intersection can still prevent someone from being able to bike from home to school/work/recreation. It is crucial for the active transportation network to not have gaps. Until connectivity improves, some bikeway projects may not immediately see as dramatic usage as we might hope. But we can’t let that discourage us from continuing to fill in the gaps.
6. Redirect a portion of SB-1 gas tax funds to street safety projects We recommend the City redirect a portion of its SB-1 Local Streets and Roads Program (LSRP) formula revenue to fully fund the Vision Zero Action Plan, and to deliver quickbuilds and slip lane removals in school zones and along bike corridors. Multiple peer cities use portions of their LSRP allocations for quick-build and hardscape street safety projects, whereas San José has always put 100% of its allocation (~$27M/year in FY24) into pavement, striping, and ADA curb ramps.
The City’s pavement program moves the Vision Zero needle slightly through lane reconfigurations, but dedicating LSRP funds to additional uses would enable building Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 6 substantially more life-saving infrastructure. These funds can also be used to secure matching grants. Over the long term, this approach would allow Vision Zero goals to be achieved through fewer distinct capital projects, saving lives and dollars. (See Appendix B: SB-1 LSRP Policy Brief.)
7. Update the Complete Streets Design Standards
Given San José's structural deficit, maximizing the impact of every dollar and staff hour is critical. We recommend DOT budget sufficient staff time for a substantial update to the 2018 Complete Streets Design Standards & Guidelines. The goal is to increase the baseline safety benefit of every repavement and streetscape project, and ensure systematic implementation of new best practices such as daylighting.
8. Feedback on Major Events
In addition to the major sporting events that took place in San José and environs over the past year, there are between 30-40 trade shows or conventions and over 200 theater events in San José annually, which bring in significant revenue to the city. The McEnery Convention Center promotes transit and micromobility in its attendee information, and there are permanent wayfinding signs around the downtown area. This committee would like to see expansion of wayfinding, and temporary signage for major events along with more visual information at the airport, train and BART stations to encourage transit and micromobility. Expanded safe parking options for bikes in the downtown area are also needed.
Most of the major sports and entertainment venues are serviced by transit, making walking and biking appealing. There is still a lack of safe bike parking in some of these areas, especially if bike valet parking is not available. We would like to see more bike lockers available in such venues, as a bike rack alone is not secure enough.
In summary, the City of San José and its entertainment partners are doing much to promote San José as a transit city by promoting and offering multimodal transport, but more can be done with more visual reminders of transportation options, directional signage at transit stops to popular venues, and safer bike parking and bike infrastructure at major venues. BPAC would like to be involved in future planning efforts for major events.
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 consider us a resource for advice and support on all matters related to street safety.
BPAC’s adopted Committee Workplan for Fiscal Year 2026–2027 can be found on the Committee’s website. We also invite requests for topics to cover in our next semi-annual report. You can reach us through Ramses Madou, Division Manager, at [email protected].
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 7 Sincerely,
Jordan Moldow, Chairperson
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 8 Appendix A: 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 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.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 9 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."
Figs. 1-3: 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.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 10 Appendix B: SB-1 LSRP Policy Brief
Utilize a portion of SB 1 Local Streets and Roads Program formula revenues to fund the Vision Zero Action Plan, the Walk Safe San José Plan, and the Better Bike Plan.
Relevant History / Background
The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (SB 1) is a gas tax that created various funding programs. The Local Streets and Roads Program (LSRP) provides reliable annual funding to every California city and county, “for expenditure on basic road maintenance and road rehabilitation projects, and on critical safety projects.” San José's FY24-25 LSRP allocation is $27.6 million.
In San José, the LSRP funds major street rehabilitations (including most Vision Zero and Bike Plan corridors), while repaving neighborhood streets with Measure T funds (and other sources). San José has always put 100% of its LSRP allocation into design and construction of pavement, striping, and ADA curb ramps. In many cases, DOT uses these projects to implement the Vision Zero Action Plan and the Better Bike Plan, by painting new bike lanes, reconfiguring car lanes, widening bike lanes, etc.
The LSRP can fund safety projects that go beyond repaving and restriping. Some of our peer cities use portions of their allocations to design and construct quick-build and hardscape street safety projects. San José should also use some of these funds to implement more complex Vision Zero projects.
Problem
Our Vision Zero Action Plan and Better Bike Plan are underfunded. The city’s LSRP program is able to move the needle slightly via lane reconfigurations, but much life saving infrastructure is excluded from our LSRP projects. Once new pavement is laid, the insufficiently-safe street design is cemented (pun intended) until the next scheduled repaving.
Separated bikeways, slip lane removals, protected intersections, sidewalk extensions, pedestrian refuge islands, etc. are never funded by San José’s LSRP dollars. Even quick-build materials aren’t being funded with LSRP dollars. The city’s Active Transportation Program has only one non-discretionary funding source: the California Transportation Development Act, Article III (TDA-3), which is about $1M per year for San José. TDA-3 is used to fund that kind of infrastructure, but $1M doesn’t go far enough, leaving us reliant on one-time sources to implement Vision Zero.
Policy / Solution
Utilize a portion of LSRP formula revenues to fund the Vision Zero Action Plan, the Walk Safe San José Plan, and the Better Bike Plan. This would serve as a second guaranteed annual funding source for those programs.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 11 In the short term this would increase the guaranteed funding available for building out the desperately needed quick-build network. Medium term, we would be making more steady progress on bringing major corridors to the highest standards for complete streets. In the long term it would take fewer capital projects to complete the three plans.
Research / Precedent
SB 1's Local Streets and Roads Program (LSRP) explicitly permits funding for "critical safety projects" beyond basic maintenance and rehabilitation. Multiple California cities already use LSRP funds for Vision Zero and active transportation work, establishing clear precedent for San José's proposed approach.
Fremont has funded roundabout installation, protected intersections, and complete streets upgrades through LSRP. Oakland has allocated LSRP dollars to high-priority traffic calming with dedicated public works staffing. El Cerrito uses LSRP for its Active Transportation Plan implementation. East Palo Alto funds traffic calming devices through LSRP. Los Angeles operates an annual Vision Zero program funded by LSRP, including staffing and safety materials.
SB 1 guidelines allow agencies to pool LSRP resources via Memoranda of Understanding, and permit up to 25 percent of LSRP revenues to fund debt service on voter-approved bonds for eligible transportation projects.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 12 Appendix C. Ewert Road Timeline
This timeline was created to document the development and history of the San José International Airport (SJC) shuttle bus access and frontage road (known as Ewert Road since 1998), which was constructed in 1996 and connects Airport Boulevard to the former Orange Lot at Martin Avenue.
The timeline presented below has been developed by the BPAC Chair, and discussed at the August 31, 2026 BPAC meeting, based on information from the following sources. There is also a Google Drive folder of historic evidence that isn't otherwise available online located here.
• Responses to public records requests (stored in a private Google Drive folder with publicly-accessible share links). These public records include original engineering documents, old Council resolutions and memorandums, emergency response incident metadata, and general plan amendments.
• Public documents available online on the websites for San José, SJC, VTA, etc. or available on the Internet Archive. These public documents include approved FAA airport layout plans, approved CEQA EIRs, project webpages, approved plans, and bicycle maps.
• Screenshots of snippets of public documents (stored in a private Google Drive folder with publicly-accessible share links).
• News articles.
• Archived print newspaper articles, available to SJPL library card holders (backed up in a private Google Drive folder with publicly-accessible share links). • Archived prints of the Spinning Crank magazine from the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (scanned and backed up in a private Google Drive folder with publiclyaccessible share links). • Streetview imagery.
• Email conversations with City staff (printed to PDF and stored in a private Google Drive folder with publicly-accessible share links).
• Information stated verbally by staff during public meetings. 1990-2001: Development and Construction
• 1990: Ewert Road and Orange Lot didn’t exist. An orchard existed in the present-day location of Orange Lot.
• 19??: County Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) designated this route as “one of the 10 or so routes [..] in their proposed county-wide bicycle network.” • 1993: City of San Jose Bike Plan includes a route around the northern perimeter of the airport, connecting Central Expressway to Airport Boulevard.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 13 • 1993 Dec 14: CSJ Council Resolution for FY24-25 TDA-3 projects includes $150k for “San Jose International Airport Bike Path - From Airport Boulevard, along the northern perimeter of the airport, to the intersection of De La Cruz Boulevard and Central Expressway. Design and construct approximately 2,500 feet of bicycle pathway, install approximately 1,100 feet of new chain link fencing and gate, relocation of some existing fencing, install two curb opening ramps, signal modifications, striping, bicycle lockers, and other miscellaneous improvements.” The Council memo indicates, “Included in the list are bicycle and pedestrian safety projects identified by the Streets and Parks Department, Public Works Department, Airport Department, and citizen and bicycle groups” and “We have coordinated the development of this list with the City of San Jose's Bicycle Advisory Committee, Public Works Department, Planning Department, Airport Department, [..]“
• Santa Clara also contributed $75,000 in TDA-3 grant money. • 199?: Orange Lot (at Martin Ave and De La Cruz Blvd) is constructed and opened. • 1995 Dec 14: The final Plans for the Improvement of San Jose International Airport - Shuttle Bus Access Road - including the associated bicycle infrastructure - are approved by Director of Aviation Ralph G. Tonseth and Director of Public Works Ralph A. Qualls, Jr. (yes, they were apparently both named Ralph). • 1996: The shuttle bus access road, its bike lanes, and other associated bicycle infrastructure is constructed and opened.
• 1996 Sep 18: Opening ceremony for “new airport access road” (“complete with bike lanes”). The opening is covered in the Mercury News on the following day. • Late 1996 or early 1997: Amos Rendler, employee in the Airport Development Division, was “honored as Airport Employee of the Month for his considerable efforts on behalf of the new shuttle/bike road skirting the Airport from Central Expressway.” • 1997: The bicycle route and bike lanes around the airport are included in the 1997 EIR for the Airport Master Plan.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 14 Fig. 4 – Image from the 1997 EIR for the Airport Master Plan. • 1997 May 11: Margaret (Peggy) Ewert and John Ewert, “both 64, of Sunnyvale, were killed when their A36 single-engine Bonanza plane crashed shortly after taking off from Truckee-Tahoe Airport. Also killed in the crash were their two children, Thomas Ewert, 39, of Sunnyvale, and Marcia Ewert, 38, and a family friend, Jennifer Marion, 26, both of San Jose. John Ewert was piloting the plane, intending to return to San Jose.” • 1998 Mar 30: CSJ Airport Commission proposes to name the access road “Ewert Road” in honor of the Ewert family.
• 1998 Sep 1: CSJ Council Resolution to name the access road “Ewert Road” in honor of the Ewert family.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 15 Fig. 5 - Aerial view of Ewert Road and De La Cruz Boulevard, at Airport Technology Park, circa 2001.
Visible are the Ewert Road bike lanes, “BIKE LANE” text in both lanes, the gap in the perimeter fence, the crosswalk across De La Cruz Blvd and connecting to that gap, and “STOP” text for bikes entering/exiting Ewert Road.
2001-2021
• 20??: Ewert Rd continued to be included in updates to the Bike Plan, and as such also appeared in one or more editions of the General Plan. For example, it appeared in the “Bicycle Network” map in the General Plan 2000 Amendment. • 2009 Nov 17: Continuing from the 1993 Bike Plan, the 2020 Better Bike Plan continues to include Ewert Road (on page 47) in the City’s bicycle network, and designates it as having a pre-existing Class II bike lane.
• 2014 Apr 20: Teenager from Santa Clara “hopped an 6-foot fence topped with barbed wire“. This happened “Sunday at about 1 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET) near a fuel farm at Mineta San Jose International Airport”. Reporting doesn’t say where this incursion occurred, and SJC staff didn’t say so when the topic was discussed at a 2026 May BPAC meeting. The fence between Ewert Road and the airfield is mounted on top of a concrete barrier and stands at least 8’-8” tall (not including the height of the barbed wire mounted on top of that) above the grade of Ewert Rd, and in some locations may be even taller above the grade of the airfield due to a grade difference between Ewert Rd and the inner maintenance road. And there are no fuel farms along Ewert Road.
Three fuel farms are along Martin Ave, Aviation Ave, and Coleman Ave on the Santa Clara side of the airfield; a fourth fuel farm is on the other side of US-101 [reference:
FAA Approved Airport Layout Plan (June 2020)]. Google Streetview shows that the Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 16 security fence is much shorter in some areas along Martin Ave, Aviation Ave, and Coleman Ave. “weeks before the incident, the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had reviewed and approved the airport’s perimeter security measures.” The SJC spokesperson also stated that “The airport "meets and exceeds" all federal requirements.”
• 2016: VTA completes Environmental Clearance for the US 101/De La Cruz Boulevard/Trimble Road Interchange Improvements project. • 2018 May: The 2018 VTA Countywide Bicycle Plan designates Ewert Road as part of a "Priority Cross County Bicycle Corridor" (CCBC), on page 37, Figure 5-4: Priority Cross County Bicycle Corridors.
• 2018: VTA begins Design and Engineering for the US 101/De La Cruz Boulevard/Trimble Road Interchange Improvements project. • 201?: New long-term parking garage is constructed and opened to the public on the east side of the airfield, Orange Lot is closed to the public, and private motor vehicle access to Ewert Rd is closed to the public, and the shuttle bus ceases operating along Ewert Rd. Public bicycle access remains along Ewert Rd, between Airport Blvd, Central Expressway, and Airport Technology Park.
• 2020 Apr: The Integrated Final EIR for the 2020 Major Amendment to the Airport Master Plan is published:
1. “On the Airport, Bike Plan 2020 designates bike lanes on Ewert Road.” (page 301, pdf page 336). Also “At the Airport, there are bike lanes on Ewert Road that provide a route around the north end of the Airport between the De La Cruz Boulevard/Central Expressway intersection and Airport Boulevard.” (page 304, pdf page 339). Also “For the following reasons, the Project would not conflict with the San José Bike Plan 2020: The bike lanes on Ewert Road have been constructed.” (page 313, pdf page 348).
2. In Table 4.17-4: Project Consistency with Transportation Policies of San José General Plan, the consistency findings are predicated on “Future improvements will comply with the City’s Complete Streets Policy, which states that roadway improvements should consider all modes (vehicles, transit, bicyclists, pedestrians), as applicable” (consistency with TR-1.2) and “The Airport has added bicycle and pedestrian facilities as new construction occurs and demand warrants [....]. Future facilities will include bicycle and pedestrian facilities where appropriate” (TR-2.2).
3. Suggests that Ewert Road should be considered for multimodal access improvements: “The following pedestrian improvements should be considered: Add sidewalks to Ewert Road” (page 324, pdf page 359).
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 17 Fig. 6 - Existing Bicycle Facilities, Figure 4.17-3 in the FEIR, showing the existing Class II bike lanes along Ewert Road.
• 2020 Jun 19: The FAA approves SJC’s updated Airport Layout Plan. It shows gaps in the perimeter fencing, in the precise locations where the bike crossings are built at Central Expressway and at Airport Technology Park.
• 2020 Dec 16 11:05 PM: “Motor vehicle accident with injuries” [Incident #F203519270] was reported on either Ewert Rd or Airport Blvd. Emergency response included “Rescue, HazMat, USAR & Non-Fire Hazards”. The information from the Public Records Request doesn’t include any more information about the collision. At a 2026 May BPAC meeting, SJC staff referenced a severe collision between an SJPD squad car and a bicyclist. This incident may have been the one they were referencing. The Public Records Request was “Fire Department / EMS incident or response records for Ewert Road / Ewert Rd at or adjacent to San José International Airport involving collisions, bicycle or pedestrian injuries, or related medical calls.” Only five incidents were disclosed, including this one. Of the other four, two were “excluding vehicle accident with injury” (both in 2019), one was a medical-only “EMS call (in 2018), cancelled by ambulance prior to contact”, and one was “No Incident found on arrival at dispatch address” (in 2023).
Present Day
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 18 Fig. 7 - Map of Ewert Road, the surrounding area, and the possible detours. The blue curve around the northern frontage of SJC is Ewert Road. The green curve in the bottom-center of the map is Airport Blvd and the Guadalupe River Trail (GRT). The yellow curve in the center-left of the map is the trail along De La Cruz Blvd and Trimble Road. The orange-red curve follows Trimble Road, Orchard Parkway, Charcot Ave, N 1st St, and Airport Parkway.
To travel by bike between Central Expressway and GRT at Airport Pkwy: the most straightforward and safe route, under all conditions, is to take GRT to Airport Blvd to Ewert Road to Central Expressway.
Without Ewert Road, commuters must cross US-101 and take Trimble and De La Cruz. If the US-101 undercrossing is flooded, cyclists must go even further out of the way, along the orange-red route, which includes several dangerous, high-volume, high-speed streets.
To travel by bike between GRT at Trimble Road and GRT at Airport Parkway, when the US-101 undercrossing is flooded: the calmer and safer route is to take the green+blue+yellow route, utilizing Ewert Road. Without Ewert Road, cyclists must take the orange-red route.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 19 Fig. 8 - Street view of connection point to Ewert Road, from De La Cruz Blvd and Central Expressway.
The markings and paint were added as part of the US 101/De La Cruz Boulevard/Trimble Road Interchange Improvements Project, as can be seen here. Note the bi-directional crossbike, the bike signal heads, and the STOP / “Stop before entering” signs. Also note the lack of present-day bikeway on De La Cruz Blvd. This connection is solely for Ewert Road.
Fig. 9 - Section of the VTA county bikeways map, showing the region around SJC. The purple roads around the north edge of SJC are Ewert Road and Airport Blvd.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report
SAN JOSE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Page 20 Fig. 10 - Street view of Ewert Road. Objects visible include the road, the bike lane (with "Bike Lane" message written on the road), a stop sign, a "Share the Road" sign, and the security fence with barbed wire.
Fig. 11 - Street view of Ewert Road. Objects visible include the road, the bike lane, a Stop sign, a "Share the Road" sign, and the security fence with barbed wire.
Attachment A
Subject: Vision Zero Traffic Safety Status Report