On an overcast spring day—20 years after planning began—a new prefabricated pedestrian, bicycle and ADA-compliant bridge was dedicated at Highway 9.
It links Highway 9 to the Los Gatos Creek Trailhead, and is located beside an existing bridge.
At this brief dedication were the visionaries who saw the need for a safe way to access the dirt trail you can use to visit the creek.
Town officials and the construction team behind the job joined for celebratory photos to mark the occasion.
2 decades in the making
Thomas Cook and Ying Smith were instrumental in what turned out to be quite the lengthy process of building this trail access and bridge.
Cook said he was impressed with the result.
“This is so much better,” he said. “It’s much more elaborate than I would have expected. I mean, there was this little dirt trail, right?, that we used to scamper down. So, I thought maybe they’d make it a little wider and a little less steep. But you know, just look what we have today.”
He credited Smith, who served as transportation and mobility manager, for having a big influence on the build.
“She was really the key to this entire project, getting grants—she found money everywhere,” he said, also shouting-out former Los Gatos Parks and Public Works-head Matt Morley (who is now City Manager for Saratoga). “It slowly became a reality.”
Off a major thoroughfare
The original Highway 9 bridge was built in 1956. It underwent reconstruction in 1992. The work on the new path and bridge project was completed in September of last year–part of the Los Gatos Creek Trailhead Connector Project. This project was led by the Town of Los Gatos with a permit from Caltrans, as it is partially on Caltrans property
Not only is the entire Creek Trail exceptionally beautiful at this major thoroughfare, it is used by many daily. With this new bridge, the area is accessible from both sides of the creek at Highway 9, for everything from wheelchairs, to strollers, to scooters, to non-motorized bikes.
Following the official dedication, Anne Klaben, of Los Gatos Commons, was the first wheelchair user to cross the steel span over the creek.
