By Khalida Sarwari
The Saratoga City Council received a presentation during its Feb. 5 meeting on the most recent information about the State Route 85 Express Lane Project, which is planned to convert the carpool lanes to express lanes and add a second carpool lane between state Highway 17 and Interstate 280.
The presentation, given by a representative from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, provided the council with a better understanding about the project, including the current status of the project, project plans and scope, the estimated project timeline and public outreach process for the project.
The $170 million project will convert nearly 27 miles of carpool lanes to express lanes on Highway 85, between U.S. Highway 101 in Mountain View and Bailey Avenue on Highway 101 in San Jose. The project will also convert the carpool direct connector in south San Jose, from Highway 101 to Highway 85, to an express lane connector.
Carpoolers, motorcyclists, transit buses and clean air vehicle drivers will be able to use the express lanes for free, while solo drivers will have to pay a toll to use the express lanes during commute hours.
According to the VTA, the project will help increase efficiency, result in free-flowing speeds and generate revenue from tolls for operations and maintenance, enforcement and further transportation improvements within the 27-mile corridor. The final design and construction phase of the project is pending funding, but the goal is to open the express lanes in early 2017.
The Feb. 5 meeting allowed Saratoga residents to voice their reservations about the project. Increased
traffic flow and noise and air pollution were cited as concerns. Several residents urged the council to conduct a comprehensive environmental impact report which the VTA has said is not necessary.
Addressing the council, Mary Robertson noted that Saratoga was promised in 1988 that the noise level on Highway 85 would be capped at 60 decibels. And yet, recent readings through the city have been hovering in the high 60s to low 70s, she said. VTA estimates that the noise level is roughly between 61 to 67 and it expects it to increase three decibels, she said.
“If you look at our documentation of the recent noise readings and the VTA’s, basically the VTA is saying the freeway is quieter than our city streets,” Robertson said. “That’s almost laughable.”
Milton Wheeler, the administrator of Subacute Saratoga Childrens Hospital, also raised the noise issue and its impact not just on residents but patients at the hospital.
“I have 36 children there. Most of them are on ventilators. They’re on feeding tubes. They do not eat like you and I do. They do not sleep like you and I do,” Wheeler said. “And I’m worried about noise pollution and I’m worried about air pollution. The decibel level is going to go up. We know that; that’s a given. Now that’s going to affect the hospital and that’s going to affect me because I live right back to that.”
Comments made by the council members appeared to support the residents. Councilman Manny Cappello asked that mitigating measures be considered along the way and included in the project’s design process. Councilman Chuck Page requested that the VTA do an in-depth study that addresses issues relevant to Saratoga.
“You’ve got to allocate money and you’ve got to get that done. And it might be a really good faith measure to get that done now,” Page said. “If the noise isn’t alleviated for us, it’s not going to happen.”
The council closed discussion on the matter by agreeing to compose a letter to the VTA that conveys residents’ concerns and the discrepancy in noise level measurements and incorporates the city’s own traffic study data.
Residents are also encouraged to write letters of their own to the VTA. The public comment period on the project’s environmental assessment report has been extended to 5 p.m. on Feb. 28. Written comments on the report can be emailed to: 85expresslanes@urs.com or mailed to Ngoc Bui, Caltrans Office of Environmental Analysis, P.O. Box 23660, MS-8B, Oakland, CA 94623.
For more information about the project, visit vta.org/85expresslanes.
Express Lane Project for 85? Not so fast say Saratoga residents
