The city of Santa Clara pilot to allow some cyclists access on the San Tomas Aquino Trail to Levi’s Stadium continues this Sunday, November 2 for the San Francisco 49ers game with the St. Louis Rams.
Because of insurance reasons, city policy had been to close the popular path between Tasman Drive and Agnew Road when they also close Tasman Drive during large events. After citizen complains, the city agreed to open the path between Agnew and the Great America parking lot near the stadium Gate C, but only to cyclists, and only to those holding tickets to the game.
Pedestrians are still restricted from the trail, and cyclists without tickets will also not be permitted on the trail between Agnew and Tasman. During the Cal-Oregon game last Friday, at least one enterprising individual used a pedicab to transport ticket-holding pedestrians to the stadium before a security operations supervisor put a stop to it. Bike valet parking is available at the south side of the Great America parking lot, from which game attendees can enter the stadium through Gate C.
Advocates continue to work to open the trail for all users at all times. In the meantime, please don’t hassle the security guy at the trail closure — he’s just doing his job. The appropriate contact are the members of the Santa Clara Stadium Authority, who are also the members of the city council.
In the city of Santa Clara, voters will select their mayor and two city council members on Election Day next Tuesday. Read the candidate survey answers at I Walk I Bike I Vote for the candidate’s views on the trail closure. Incumbent mayor Jamie Matthews remains committed to keeping the trail closed.
The photo above shows a commuter winding his way through the Great America parking lot before last Friday’s Cal vs Oregon game. He told me “I just want to get home!”
I was riding down the Guadalupe Trail a while before the game started and I passed a peleton of about 8 pedicabs headed in the direction of the stadium.
I spoke with one of the pedicab operators, who said that the inclines on the Guadalupe Trail are quite the workout.
The busy parking lot is really not at all busy in a 49ers game, especially 50+ feet west of the magnetometers. A main interior lane wasn’t that bad, but would have cars cross it.
It still seems that except for immediately after the game that a protected walkway could be easily created and that Levi’s Stadium wouldn’t lose that many of the $50 parking spaces. But the egress may not be that big of a deal for the most part.
Alternate idea: keep hassling the security guy at the trail closure. Maybe he’ll quit.
The security guard is just doing his job; and he’s actually letting in Bike Corral Attendants. It’s the 49er/Levi’s folks and their “tail wagging the dog” of Santa Clara which is the real problem here.
Rife with inaccuracies:
http://www.santaclaraweekly.com/2014/Issue-45/cautious_exploration_of_game_day_creek_trail_accessibility.html
Inaccuracies, but the glass if half full if it’s getting some press, including the first sentence. (e.g. The stadium project promised the trail to be open, then they re-neged. Whoever failed to anticipate “security perimeter” issues should now be working at McDonald’s without a pension, but I doubt they are.)
…or if it is about “insurance”, then that’s a business issue between the stadium and their insurer. Cough-up some extra dough to cover the additional “risk” and the insurer will write an appropriate policy
I went to the game this past weekend for a second time. I used the Guadalupe River trail (since it’s closer to my house) to get to Tasman. From there, it’s only a couple blocks to the stadium. There are only a few bike racks near the A entrance. Security did not want to let us in, nor did they know where to direct us to. I explained we parked our bikes “right over there” last time, pointing to the small area where there were some bikes. I was disappointed they still didn’t know how to handle us on our bikes.
Leaving the stadium was harry. We walked our bikes up Tasman towards Lafayette with the hoards of people headed to the train. Towards the top of the overpass, we were able to get onto the road portion. As we were riding, we were narrowly passed by a Prius. Really only a few inches away from us. There really are very few cars going that direction, so there was no excuse. I will be scared to do that again. Not sure there is anything that can be done, it’s really each person for themselves out there!