A Northwood running coach brought her youth club to the Jeffrey Open Space Trail Bicycle & Pedestrian Bridge on its opening morning. She told the Irvine Standard what had changed for her runners: "We've always gone north on the trail, and now we can go south because of this new bridge."
That sums up what opened on August 11. For eleven years, the Jeffrey Open Space Trail was a north Irvine trail with a hard stop at the 5 Freeway. The new bridge removes that stop. It also exposes the next one. The trail now hands you off to the San Diego Creek corridor and onward routes. The two links that would make JOST a single route from the foothills to the coast are on very different footing. One is under construction. The other depends on a development proposal that is still under city review.
What the bridge actually replaced
The original JOST opened as a 3.5-mile trail in 2015. If you wanted to keep going south past I-5, the route turned into what TrailLink describes as a mix of sidewalks, bike walks, and bike lanes after a street-level crossing of the freeway area. Runners and cyclists heading south were back on surface streets, waiting at signals.
The fix is large. The City of Irvine's project page describes a bridge nearly 1,200 feet long and 15 feet wide, the largest pedestrian and bicycle bridge in the city. It crosses the I-5, the Jeffrey Road Park & Ride lot, and Walnut Avenue. Work began in March 2024. The span carries 2,400 linear feet of steel truss railing and 40 custom steel-plate light poles. Its approach walls are faced in Italian Villa Stone Veneer.
Those light poles matter more than the stonework. The Orange County Register reported that the bridge has overhead lighting for night riders. It also reported that hundreds of cyclists, walkers, and pets crossed on opening day. An Oak Creek resident told the Irvine Standard he couldn't wait "to ride it at night when the bridge lights are on."
The bridge also anchors a new 1.5-mile Class I path, separated from car traffic, that runs between Walnut Avenue and Barranca Parkway. A 1.5-mile gap that ran on streets is now 1.5 miles of dedicated trail.
Riding it south from the top of the bridge
The bridge connects to the original JOST and the Cypress Village Trail on its north side and to the new extension on its south side. Here is what that opens up for someone starting in north Irvine:
- Start on the original JOST. Its northern stretch runs from Portola Parkway down toward I-5. At Bryan Avenue it meets the Venta Spur Trail.
- Cross the 5 on the new bridge, over the freeway, the Park & Ride lot, and Walnut Avenue, without a single signal.
- Follow the extension to Barranca Parkway on the new Class I path.
- Reach the San Diego Creek Trail. TrailLink lists it at 10.8 miles, running from Bake Parkway in Irvine to Eastbluff Drive in Newport Beach. Named stops along it include Bill Barber Marine Corps Memorial Park and Windrow Community Park.
- Branch off from there. The creek corridor connects to the University Trail and the Peters Canyon Trail. A branch along University Drive passes through Mason Regional Park.
The new link delivers you to the San Diego Creek Trail. It does not take you straight onto the Irvine Spectrum, Mason Regional Park, or the Great Park. Those are reached through the creek corridor and its connecting trails.
A Woodbridge resident who coached cross-country for more than 20 years explained why that reach matters for distance runners: "You're always looking for safe places for kids to run, and when you have distance runners, you need a good, safe 10 miles or so." North Irvine could not offer that kind of continuous mileage southward before August.
Where the line still breaks
Farther south along the Jeffrey corridor, the story is less tidy. TrailLink's route description has a southern JOST segment running from Barranca Parkway to the existing I-405 pedestrian bridge. A user review on the same page describes a "JOST-Center" gap with sidewalk and roadway portions. That review is dated January 2015, well before this year's extension, and TrailLink's route text may be just as old. Treat any route through central Irvine near Oak Creek as one that may still put you at street level.
The Irvine Standard's September 2 report calls this stretch the trail's "missing middle." It describes the existing bridge over the 405 into Quail Hill as the southern anchor. From there, the Standard says, the route links into the South Coast Wilderness toward Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, Crystal Cove State Park, and Upper Newport Bay, and to UC Irvine via the Sand Canyon Wash Trail and Mason Regional Park.
The trail is now in three states at once:
| Link | Where | Status as of early October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| JOST bridge and extension | I-5 to Barranca Parkway | Open since August 11, 2026 |
| Original JOST | Portola Parkway to I-5 | Open since 2015 |
| Portola Parkway bridge | Jeffrey Road at Portola, north into Gateway Open Space Preserve | Under construction, per a September 2 report |
| Oak Creek bridges | Over Irvine Center Drive and the railroad at Walnut Trail | Proposed, tied to a development application under review |
| I-405 bridge into Quail Hill | Southern end of the Jeffrey corridor | Existing |
The north link has a construction clock
The Irvine Standard reported that construction has begun on a dedicated pedestrian and cycling bridge over Portola Parkway at Jeffrey Road. The paper said that over the next 18 months it will carry JOST directly into the Gateway Open Space Preserve. That opens access to 20,000 acres of protected northern foothills, including Limestone, Fremont, and Black Star canyons. That timeline was reported in early September. Our research did not find a firm completion date from the city, so treat 18 months as a reported estimate, not a scheduled opening.
Until that bridge is finished, Portola Parkway is the trail's northern end. Two foothill sites nearby work differently from the open trail. The City of Irvine says Orchard Hills and the Portola Staging Area are open only through guided, scheduled programs. If you ride to the top of JOST this fall, you won't find open trail access into the hills there.
The middle depends on a golf course
The southern gap is the harder one, because it depends on land use, not on construction. The Standard reports that the proposed Oak Creek nature park and village plan would turn the privately owned golf course into public meadows, botanical gardens, and restored riparian woodland with about 5 miles of new trails. It would also add the two elevated bridges over Irvine Center Drive and the railroad at Walnut Trail.
The City of Irvine's project page lists Irvine Company as the applicant for a 281-acre Oak Park planning area. The proposal includes up to 2,400 homes, a public nature park and trail system, and JOST connections that include those bridges. The city says the General Plan amendment, zone change, and development agreement applications are "currently filed with the City and are under review." A Subsequent EIR, a follow-up environmental review, is being prepared.
In April, the City Council adopted a zoning amendment that creates an optional framework for open space. The city stated that the amendment "does not approve any specific development project." The Register reported on September 3 that the revised proposal describes a park of more than 60 acres, with final city approval expected in 2027 after environmental review. The proposal is also the subject of public debate over the 1988 voter-approved open-space designation for the course. Voice of OC has covered whether converting it requires a public vote.
For trail users, the takeaway is simple. The Oak Creek bridges are not on a construction schedule, and their timing depends on a city review that has not concluded. A Turtle Rock cyclist who was among the first riders across the new span told the Standard, "With another few sections, it will be a quick ride north and south through the city." Of those sections, Portola has started and Oak Creek has not.
Getting on the new stretch this fall
For the bridge itself, LAist reported parking at Cypress Community Park, 255 Visions, and taking a short connector to the span. The city pointed opening-day visitors to the Caltrans Park & Ride lot at 5595 Walnut Ave., directly beneath the bridge. TrailLink also lists the Cypress Village Shopping Center area near Jeffrey Road and Roosevelt as an access point on the north segment.
Our research did not find posted trail hours or any reports on how the bridge has been used since opening. The city's general JOST page still describes the I-5 bridge as under construction. The extension project page has the current information, including photos and video from the August 11 ribbon-cutting.
If the new bridge has you thinking about which parts of Irvine sit closest to the trail network, and to the links still to come, I'm happy to walk through it with you in English or Spanish. Raul Vega can help you match a route you'd use every week to the places you're considering. Let's Connect.
