By Khalida Sarwari
The San Jose City Council unanimously approved a motion Tuesday to lower the speed limit near Trace Elementary School to make it safer for students to cross the street while the school’s main building is rebuilt.
Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio proposed changing the speed limit from 25 mph to 15 mph on Dana Avenue, between Hester and Naglee avenues, during school hours.
“In this circumstance, it makes a ton of sense based on what happened to Trace,” Oliverio said at the council meeting Tuesday.
On the morning of July 5, a five-alarm arson fire destroyed a 25,000-square-foot building that housed 16 classrooms for kindergarten through second grade as well as offices and a library media center.
Over the summer, 20 portable classrooms were installed at the school, with half across a courtyard from the burned site and the other half across Dana Avenue. The school reopened Monday.
Construction of the permanent replacement building is expected to take about 18 months to two years.
The blaze caused about $10 million in damage. No arrests have been made in connection with the fire.
The speed limit change is allowed under a 2008 state law that gives cities the opportunity to create 15 mph zones around schools.
“Whether you’re an adult or a child, at 25 [mph] you’ll get killed,” Oliverio said. “But if you’re hit by 15 [mph], you’ll live.”