The Stevens Creek Trail is a fantastic resource for the city. It constantly in use by kids going to school, adults going to work or shopping, and families enjoying the outdoors together.

I hope that the city can extend it into Sunnyvale so that other cities can continue it up into the hills. Then it would be a great resource for all of Silicon Valley.

The amount of money they are talking about seems very small compared to the huge amounts that we spend on car projects. Please throw more than just leftovers towards pedestrian and bicycle projects. Thank you.

Boondoggle.

$4.2M pissed away.

Now they want another $12M to cross back over when they could simply direct the flow on existing city streets with bike lanes and sidewalks....

The people on that side of the freeway chose to live over there. Do we really need to spend $16 million dollars so people can cross over the freeway they chose to live on the other side of?

Is it too soon to call this a bridge to nowhere?

I couldn't resist.

Seriously.. $4.2 million to cross the highway.

Love it! Beautiful! Way to go MV!

This is city infrastructure that will be used by locals and visitors alike for multiple decade after multiple decade. A bargain at 4.2M given what it would cost in 10 years. Every single dime spent by the city can be criticized and claimed wasteful. I recall many critics being strongly opposed to the SCT all together years ago, calling it a boondoggle and a squandering of millions of public dollars.
They're very quiet now though. History will prove this to be a great addition just as history has proven the critics of the original trail to be silly.

MV has shown Los Altos and Cupertino how to do it. Lets see if those cities can get things done too.

Note: "Hearthstone" should be "Heatherstone"

Also, "The $4.2 million bridge over Highway 85 south is set to open" Doesn't the bridge also cross over Highway 85 north? It would be useless to build a bridge to the median.

This is great. For those south of El Camino it's a shorter and less dangerous way to bike to Sunnyvale than the bridge over 85 at El Camino where people are speeding on and off the cloverleafs.

The word "boondoggle" has lost all meaning due to overuse on the M.V. and P.A. boards. Sorry, but you're going to have to provide some sort of logic instead of pouting and chanting your mantra.

Wise use of public money, yes 4.2 million dollars was spent. Just think how much it would cost to build a bridge for cars, how long it will take and worse yet which I can sum it up. Lawsuits

this trail is a fantastic gift to pedestrians, runners, bikers for exercising, commuting and general "strolling" in a path that is safe, scenic, unemcumbered by traffic. I suggest any nay-sayers Go to the trail and walk/run/stroll/bike it BEFORE you criticize it.

I love this! Since exploring the trail 3 months ago, I have become dependent on it for safe exercise and commuting.

I am all for more trails.

Awesome! We love the trail. Finding the funds to connect to MV High will be a huge traffic saver in the future if high school students from more neighborhoods in MV can get themselves to school.

It's awesome, I wouldn't commute any other way now, it's spoiled me. I wish it was a little wider. They should get the Feds to pay for the next phase, Bernanke is going to be looking for new ways to add money to the economy by the end of the year.

If local cities/counties/Caltrans had designed overpasses such as El Camino/85 salely, we wouldn't need ped/bike bridges. But they didn't.

Boondoggle? Bridge to no-where? I guess to those who sit at home all day, it might be. Or, more likely, people who only ever travel by car. Sadly, those sorry, nay-saying folks will benefit, too, from this trail extension.

This bridges connect tens of thousands of homes on the east side of Highway 85 to the Shoreline Business Park (a little company named Google happens to have a few buildings out there). Already many people commute using the trail and this will draw more of them out of cars and onto bikes - relieving congestion on the roads.

There are over 100 Mountain View kids living on the part of Mountain View across Highway 85 that attend Huff Elementary. Every one that comes by bike means 4 less car trips on Grant Road (2 round trips).

And, as for it being a bridge to no where, from the naive west-side viewpoint, what about the entire world east of Highway 85? Or does your world end there? This is going to be a great connection to the Mary Avenue - Burnett Bridge over Interstate 280!

I am glad to see that the vast majority of people on this forum understand how important projects like this are to everyone, even those that never set foot on the trail.

Now, lets find the money to extend the trail further and add more connections into the neighborhoods!

"The people on that side of the freeway chose to live over there."

What a strange argument! By the same reasoning, no highway, trail, railroad or bridge in the history of man kind should have been constructed. After all, some number of people must always have "chosen to live there" in order to justify any infrastructure investment.

And on the flip side, it was exactly because this bridge was in development that I could chose my next home to be to the east of 85.

All one has to do is look at how many people utilize the Steven's Creek trail on a daily basis to realize it's importance in an urban setting.

Hey this bridge is beautiful. It will let me cross over for my commute to a street with cleaner air.

I hate how badly designed freeways fence off communities from one another and endanger everyone from pedestrians, to bikers, to skaters, to car drivers. When the safest way to get around town is in the steel protection of a car and the place you are most likely to die is in a car the odds are a little grim.

How sweet it is to have a trail free from cars where you can commute and commune with nature without getting run over. Most of the homes on either side of hwy 85 were there before 85 was built and the residents did not ask to be isolated, relocated, or polluted with smog.

Commune with nature without getting run over? I don't know what trail you are using but the trails in the bay area are overrun with bikers who think they own the place yelling at you every 30 seconds.

Not my idea of peaceful.

And before any bike riders get offended. I'm not saying ALL riders are obnoxious. If you aren't the one screaming "On your left!" then this isn't directed at you.

Sorry to hear about the 'funding challenges the city is experiencing'. Just browsing the Voice headlines, seems like the city has endless cash to flush down the toilet. At least the trail benefits a fair number of people. Unlike spending stupid money relocating low income residents just to make room for different low income housing.

Bicyclists screaming "on your left" are not trying to be obnoxious. They are complying with the posted rules to announce yourself before passing.

The 2009 SCT rules say "Bicyclists and in-line skaters should give a voice, bell, or horn warning when approaching others."

As for the bridge over 85, I am thrilled this is complete. I have been anticipating it for a long time. As mentioned above, it makes for a great connection with the Mary Ave Ped/Bike bridge, linking Cupertino/San Jose with Sunnyvale/Mountain View. THANK YOU Mountain View, VTA, Friends of the SCT!

I'm excited that this bridge has finally opened. This opens up a number of new options to commute via bike along a safe route.

I get a lot less of the "on your left" when I'm walking in the middle of the right lane. The warnings are mostly directed to people or groups that are taking up both lanes.

Yes yes, those cyclist are at it again, alerting us to their presence as the rules suggest they do. How dare they...its like they're trying to eliminate all logic from my personal bias against them. Well I'm here to say won't work. I plan on being irrationally critical of them until the entire world laughs at my bigotry. That'll show them...that'll show them ALL!

I love this bridge! Thank you all who made this happen!

I'm a bike/Caltrain commuter living on the east side of 85 in Sunnyvale and this bridge has saved me considerable anguish of trying to make it across that El Camino-Hwy85 cloverleaf mess safely. For those who do not know how this impacts you, well, my not using my car just saved you a bit of traffic jam and reduced your gas prices a tad. By not using my car, I'm also not deteriorating the roads, saving you and your city a tiny bit of maintenance cost. Finally, I'm (hopefully) healthier, thus paying more than my fair share when I pay into health insurance. I'm not trying to brag or ask for "fairness", only that you acknowledge this bridge and other non-car public works like it are not boondoggles.

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