Cycling the "Milpitas Loop" Route

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SBAY Geek Ride scouting expedition, April 15, 2001

SBAY Geek Ride scouting expedition, April 15, 2001

This route is admittedly somewhat contrived. It was the result of a search for a bike route which could use the two new light rail stations at Cisco Way and I880/Milpitas which open in May 2001. The idea was that if we could find such a route, we could use it for the May 2001 SBAY Geek Ride, just after the new stations open. Since it doesn't have an obvious backbone trail to anchor the route, it's more complicated than most SBAY Geek Ride routes so far. But I think it still turned out pretty well.

Here's the short description of the route:

Enter Coyote Creek levee from Cisco parking lot
Take the Coyote Creek levee north to Dixon Landing Rd
Cross I-880 on Dixon Landing
Take the levees on Lower Penitencia Creek and Berryessa Creek eastbound to Milpitas Blvd.
Take the bike lane on Milpitas Blvd southbound. If desired, stop at one of the restaurants at the Milpitas City Center.
Take the sidewalk of the Calaveras Blvd overcrossing over the railroad. There is no bike lane on two segments of the bridge.
Take the pedestrian walkway down and to the right to Main St.
Turn right and take the bike lane on Main St southbound to Great Mall Parkway.
Turn right and take the sidewalk on Great Mall Parkway. (The bike lane has been temporarily removed during light rail construction.)
Go to the bike lane when it resumes just past the bridge construction and just before I-880. Continue straight to the I880/Milpitas light rail station.

A more detailed description of the route follows...

I spotted the possibility for a route like this from looking at a map for any bicycling routes from Dixon Landing. I drove by and glanced at part of the area one weekend afternoon and figured out which parts of the levees were accessible from roads. But we still needed a test ride of it since I didn't know what there was between the road access points. Gary and I did that test ride of the route on April 15, 2001.

The route begins at the Cisco Way light rail station. (Since it wasn't open yet at the time of this test ride for the route, we started from the Baypointe station.) The Coyote Creek levee is accessible from the Cisco parking lot on the north side of Tasman Drive, across from the Calpine power plant. (Before reaching 237, we passed the VTA bus maintenance facility. There were some really beat-up wrecks at the back of the yard near the levee, sort of a "bus boneyard".)

At Hwy 237, there's a concrete bikeway underneath the highway. Then on the other side, the levee is blocked by an "under construction" sign, hopefully for work on a future Bay Trail segment there. So we took Alviso-Milpitas Road (the old Hwy 237 from before the freeway) across the creek to the trail on the other side which leads to the levee.

From there, it's an easy ride northward to Dixon Landing Road at the border with Fremont. At Dixon Landing, you can see 3/4 mile away an office park in southern Fremont. Supposedly the City of Fremont plans to extend Fremont Blvd from there to meet Dixon Landing and McCarthy Blvd here. Once that's done, it would be an 8 mile bike ride to Fremont BART from this point. There was some construction in that area but it may all be for the rebuilding of the 880/Dixon Landing interchange.

So then we crossed I-880 on Dixon Landing Road. The overpass has no bike lane or shoulder so you have to use the part of the California Vehicle Code that allows bicycles to "take the lane" when needed for safety. Keep your speed up and travel in pairs if possible over that short section.

On the other side of I-880, we cross California Circle and then turn right onto the sidewalk for a few yards to the paved trail on the levee of Lower Penitencia Creek. The paved trail dips down off the levee (on the dry side) in a few places. The trail is interrupted by Milmont Dr, which is a divided road. The best legal way to handle this is to turn left, make a U-turn just after the bridge, cross the bridge again and get off the road for the levee trail again.

Just after the Milmont Bridge, Berryessa Creek splits off to the left from Penitencia Creek. We were on the left side in order to take Berryessa Creek. The trail turns from paved to dirt. And here comes the complicated part. It reaches the railroad tracks at the spot where Calera Creek joins Berryessa Creek. A concrete bridge is so narrow that anyone not sure of their balance should walk their bikes across. The trail continues adjacent to the railroad before turning left across the tracks.

This is one place where the levee trail is not well developed. There is no crossing warnings at the railroad crossing. So while the Water District might say this is part of their levee trail, the railroad might also insist that it's trespassing. (And with good reason since the railroad speed limit sign just before this said 47 mph. Look both ways and assume you and your group don't have time to cross. Give lots of room for passing trains.) Since this is right near the Abel Street bridge over the tracks, that looks like it has potential for a detour which will eliminate some hazards from this route, maybe via the right side of Penitencia Creek after Milmont. We'll have to explore that on a future ride.

Once past the tracks, the ride along Berryessa Creek becomes normal again. A pleasant surprise which comes up quickly on the left is Hidden Lake Park, which is ringed by a paved trail and has steps for access to and from the levee. We didn't stop there but a lap around the lake is an option on future rides if participants like the place.

The next bridge on Berryessa Creek 3/4 mile later is Milpitas Blvd. Here we get off the levee and turn right onto the bike lane. Then it's a really short ride (less than 1/4 mile) to the Milpitas City Center. There are restaurants here if the group wants to stop. But don't fill yourself up too full because it's still 3 miles to the I880/Milpitas station. (Or since that station wasn't open yet, it was 5 miles to Baypointe for us when we rode this.)

When you're done at the Milpitas City Center, take the sidewalk on the Calaveras Blvd (Hwy 237) overpass over the railroad. You have to use the sidewalk because there are two narrow stretches with no bike lanes, the traffic goes just too fast, and drivers are probably already frustrated over having merged from 3 lanes into 2.

On the other side of the bridge, turn right down the path to Main Street. Turn right (under the bridge you were just on) and take the bike lane. It's a flat, easy 1-1/4 miles to Great Mall Parkway.

Turn right onto the sidewalk of Great Mall Parkway. You'll see road construction and signs that say "bicycles use sidewalk". The construction is obvious, a light rail elevated guideway (bridge) in the median of Great Mall Parkway. Stay on the sidewalk for about a block and a half until the bike lane resumes again, between Abel and I-880. Watch for idiot drivers before hopping off the sidewalk into the bike lane.

On the other side of I-880 is the I880/Milpitas light rail station. During the test ride, the station wasn't open yet so we continued along Tasman Drive for another 2 miles to Baypointe. (Tasman is the same road as Great Mall Parkway - it changed names at I-880.)

The route was 10 miles as ridden, including our detours within the Milpitas City Center. Actually, with the 3/4 mile from Baypointe to the Cisco Way station and 1-3/4 miles from the I880/Milpitas station to Baypointe, it was 12.5 miles as we rode it. But that extra won't be necessary after the I-880 light rail extension is operating on May 17, 2001.

This route definitely had some quirks to it...

no access from the Coyote Creek levee on the San Jose side to the Hwy 237 bike trail
no bike lanes on Dixon Landing Rd over I-880
awkward U-turn needed at Milmont to get to the trail on the other side of the bridge
narrow concrete bridge at Calera Creek and Berryessa Creek. Duck! Abandoned utility lines are low overhead while on this bridge.
no proper railroad crossing on the Berryessa Creek levee.

Gary had some hesitation considering this for an official route for the SBAY Geek Ride. I think if there had been any more complications after the Milpitas City Center, he might have vetoed it. But the rest went so smoothly that I think that's what recovered it. So he approved this for the route for the May 2001 SBAY Geek Ride.

[picture]
(1488x992 482K) (500x334 26K) This is the Cisco Way light rail station, the starting point for the May 2001 SBAY Geek Ride. When this photo was taken, it was still under construction about a month prior to opening.

(1488x992 649K) (500x334 28K) Once you ride up to the levee and turn north, this is what you see. Cisco buildings on the left and Coyote Creek on the right.

[picture]
(1488x992 486K) (500x334 25K) A view of the Cisco site from the levee. Notice that there are no buildings for miles along the line straight ahead down the center of the photo? That's because this is where San Francisco's Hetch Hetchy water pipeline from the Sierras comes around the south tip of the Bay.

[picture]
(1488x992 782K) (500x334 47K) Gary stands in this photo next to the fence and warning signs that prevent us from continuing past Hwy 237 on the San Jose side of Coyote Creek. So we took Alviso-Milpitas Road (just a few feet behind me where this picture was taken) across the creek and continued up the levee on the Milpitas side.

[picture]
(1488x992 553K) (500x334 31K) Foreground: more construction projects have recently begun along McCarthy Blvd in Milpitas. We couldn't tell if it would be an office park or retail. Background: Mission Peak and the Milpitas hills are green after all the Winter's rains.

(1488x992 606K) (500x334 29K) This awkward concrete contraption over Calera Creek was obviously intended more as a pedestrian path than a bike bridge. In the background, the trail continues between Berryessa Creek (on the right) and the WP & SP railroad lines (on the left.) (The "WP Line" tracks on the far left are the ones which are currently under study to be removed and replaced with the BART extension to San Jose.)

[picture]
(1488x992 590K) (500x334 30K) Hidden Lake Park in Milpitas provides a pleasant surprise on the left side of the levee. Stairs provide easy access to the paved path around the lake.

(1488x992 584K) (500x334 31K) We're on the Berryessa Creek levee here facing the Milpitas Blvd bridge, where we'll make a right turn onto the road. About a mile in the background is the Embassy Suites Milpitas/Silicon Valley, an easily-visible Milpitas landmark at I-680 & 237..

[picture]
(1488x992 554K) (500x334 28K) As we looked around the Milpitas City Center, I snapped a picture of the new City Hall building under construction.

(1488x992 479K) (500x334 22K) "Bicycles Use Sidewalk" is what the signs say along Great Mall Parkway. Fortunately it's only temporary while they're building the light rail bridge in the median of the road. We're supposed to get the bike lanes back after the construction. This photo shows the concrete forms for the first quarter of the bridge deck are taking shape.

[picture]
(1488x992 516K) (500x334 26K) Now looking eastbound along Great Mall Parkway, the railroad crossing here shows what the light rail had to go over. There's also another railroad crossing about 3/4 mile further up the road. The railroads are the reason the light rail needs a bridge in this section. These columns will support the Great Mall/Main Street light rail station on the bridge in 2004.

[picture]
(1488x992 410K) (500x334 22K) Now looking westbound along Great Mall Parkway from Abel Street, the bridge will come down to ground level between Abel and I-880.

(1488x992 544K) (500x334 30K) On the other side of I-880, Great Mall Parkway changes names to Tasman Drive. And we've reached the newly-constructed section of the light rail line at the I-880/Milpitas station. It isn't open yet at the time of this photo. And if you look at the high-res version of the image, you can even see an error in the station's signage. The blue info board correctly identifies the station as "I-880/Milpitas. But the smaller sign on the light pole (far right) misidentifies the station as "Cisco Way". (I already reported this error to VTA via e-mail.)

(1488x992 482K) (500x334 26K)	This is the Cisco Way light rail station, the starting point for the May 2001 SBAY Geek Ride. When this photo was taken, it was still under construction about a month prior to opening.
(1488x992 649K) (500x334 28K)	Once you ride up to the levee and turn north, this is what you see. Cisco buildings on the left and Coyote Creek on the right.
(1488x992 486K) (500x334 25K)	A view of the Cisco site from the levee. Notice that there are no buildings for miles along the line straight ahead down the center of the photo? That's because this is where San Francisco's Hetch Hetchy water pipeline from the Sierras comes around the south tip of the Bay.
(1488x992 782K) (500x334 47K)	Gary stands in this photo next to the fence and warning signs that prevent us from continuing past Hwy 237 on the San Jose side of Coyote Creek. So we took Alviso-Milpitas Road (just a few feet behind me where this picture was taken) across the creek and continued up the levee on the Milpitas side.
(1488x992 553K) (500x334 31K)	Foreground: more construction projects have recently begun along McCarthy Blvd in Milpitas. We couldn't tell if it would be an office park or retail. Background: Mission Peak and the Milpitas hills are green after all the Winter's rains.
(1488x992 606K) (500x334 29K)	This awkward concrete contraption over Calera Creek was obviously intended more as a pedestrian path than a bike bridge. In the background, the trail continues between Berryessa Creek (on the right) and the WP & SP railroad lines (on the left.) (The "WP Line" tracks on the far left are the ones which are currently under study to be removed and replaced with the BART extension to San Jose.)
(1488x992 590K) (500x334 30K)	Hidden Lake Park in Milpitas provides a pleasant surprise on the left side of the levee. Stairs provide easy access to the paved path around the lake.
(1488x992 584K) (500x334 31K)	We're on the Berryessa Creek levee here facing the Milpitas Blvd bridge, where we'll make a right turn onto the road. About a mile in the background is the Embassy Suites Milpitas/Silicon Valley, an easily-visible Milpitas landmark at I-680 & 237..
(1488x992 554K) (500x334 28K)	As we looked around the Milpitas City Center, I snapped a picture of the new City Hall building under construction.
(1488x992 479K) (500x334 22K)	"Bicycles Use Sidewalk" is what the signs say along Great Mall Parkway. Fortunately it's only temporary while they're building the light rail bridge in the median of the road. We're supposed to get the bike lanes back after the construction. This photo shows the concrete forms for the first quarter of the bridge deck are taking shape.
(1488x992 516K) (500x334 26K)	Now looking eastbound along Great Mall Parkway, the railroad crossing here shows what the light rail had to go over. There's also another railroad crossing about 3/4 mile further up the road. The railroads are the reason the light rail needs a bridge in this section. These columns will support the Great Mall/Main Street light rail station on the bridge in 2004.
(1488x992 410K) (500x334 22K)	Now looking westbound along Great Mall Parkway from Abel Street, the bridge will come down to ground level between Abel and I-880.
(1488x992 544K) (500x334 30K)	On the other side of I-880, Great Mall Parkway changes names to Tasman Drive. And we've reached the newly-constructed section of the light rail line at the I-880/Milpitas station. It isn't open yet at the time of this photo. And if you look at the high-res version of the image, you can even see an error in the station's signage. The blue info board correctly identifies the station as "I-880/Milpitas. But the smaller sign on the light pole (far right) misidentifies the station as "Cisco Way". (I already reported this error to VTA via e-mail.)