Alma Bridge Road Newt Passage Project

Midpen is partnering with Santa Clara County and several other agencies to investigate feasibility, prepare an Alternatives Analysis and preliminary designs, and perform associated environmental and engineering services to improve wildlife connectivity primarily for California newts across Alma Bridge Road near Lexington Reservoir.

In October 2023, the Midpen board approved advancing two viable solutions identified in the Alternatives Analysis and Basis of Design Report. Both involve elevated sections of roadway coupled with wildlife passages under the road. The project team is now beginning to design and further evaluate the two options by conducting environmental studies required under California law.

A study completed in 2021 estimates that, of the nearly 14,000 adult California newts that attempted to cross the road during the rainy season in 2020-21 from their dry-season upland foraging habitat to their rainy-season breeding grounds during the survey period, almost 40% were killed by vehicle collisions. The California newt (Taricha torosa) and rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa), closely related species, are both present in the Los Gatos Creek watershed.

On December 10, 2025, the board of directors voted to move forward with a project to build trails connecting the Beatty area from Alma Bridge Road to the existing trail network of Sierra Azul Preserve. The decision included several considerations to reduce newt mortality along the roadway including:

• Providing $650,000 towards funding a pilot segment of the Alma Bridge Road Newt Passage Project
• Denoting that the new trails will be closed in the winter months to mitigate roadway usage during peak newt migration 
• Postponing the building of a new parking area and working with Santa Clara County Parks and Valley Water to utilize the existing parking area at Miller Point.