By Khalida Sarwari
For Saratoga Councilman Howard Miller, quality of life has always been his top priority in the ongoing discussions around traffic and congestion issues on Highway 85.
Miller, who serves on a VTA policy advisory board made up of stakeholders from the West Valley municipalities, has been actively pushing for noise mitigation on the congested highway for years. In May, he saw a breakthrough that may seem small to some, but is significant to him.
At an advisory board meeting, Miller proposed adding noise mitigation on Highway 85 to the list of projects that would get funding from a VTA transportation sales tax measure on the Nov. 8 ballot. The idea was met with unanimous support from the full VTA board but now rests in the hands of voters.
The 30-year half-cent sales tax measure is anticipated to generate around $6.4 billion. About $350 million of that would go toward improvements on the Highway 85 corridor. This would include an express lane on the highway in each direction and a new transit lane in each direction from Highway 87 in San Jose to U.S. 101 in Mountain View.
Miller’s contribution to this category was the suggestion to allocate funding for noise abatement along 85 and to study transportation alternatives that include light rail.
“This is the first time ever that we’ve had a commitment for a dedicated funding source for noise mitigation on Highway 85, and that’s a super big deal,” he said.
Miller is also encouraged by the outcome of the first phase of a recently completed noise study. VTA conducted the study across cities along the Highway 85 corridor, including Saratoga, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and San Jose, to address concerns from residents about the noise they are currently experiencing and to find immediate relief.
“Everybody complains that we’ve already measured the noise and we don’t need to measure again,” he said. “So [VTA] did measure again, and they reconciled those numbers in the express lanes project analysis with the city’s noise study. I can’t say that they answered every question, but it served a purpose and that was that, yes, there’s noise on the freeway that we can improve.”
Miller added, “To have VTA agree is a gigantic breakthrough.”
The second phase of that study, which comes with a $5 million price tag, includes the implementation of noise reduction treatments at certain test locations. For Saratoga, it would include a pavement overlay from Saratoga Avenue to Kevin Moran Park, which constitutes about half of Highway 85 in Saratoga. Miller said he’d like to see a larger test in the city, which could be possible if the ballot measure is passed. Even if the measure doesn’t pass, there are alternate ways to pay for the test and improve the noise profile for half of the city, he said, adding that he’s optimistic it could be done within the next four years.
What would be difficult, however, is conducting the third phase of the noise study, which would encompass the entirety of the highway, without ballot measure funding, he said.
Miller’s foray into the noise study and test started nearly four years ago when he first became aware of both the ballot measure and the express lanes project. His reasoning then was that a study of sorts, especially in Saratoga, was necessary before VTA would venture to mitigate noise on the highway.
Link:
Saratoga: Miller sees significant breakthrough in noise mitigation on Hwy. 85
