By Judy Peterson and Khalida Sarwari
The Valley Transportation Authority has released a lengthy list of projects that could be funded by a proposed sales tax increase that may be placed on the November ballot. The VTA board of directors is expected to decide by the end of June if the sales tax issue will go to voters this fall.
It would likely be a half-cent sales tax hike that VTA estimates could generate $6 billion over 30 years.
The proposed project list is included in a document called “Envision Silicon Valley.” And while it includes the controversial Highway 85 express lane project, it also includes improvements to local roads and streets.
Los Gatos, for example, has a $4 million placeholder for improvements to Winchester Boulevard between Lark and Daves avenues.
Saratoga doesn’t have any individual street improvements listed, but it does have a $500,000 line item for a senior transportation program.
“This list has gone through a rigorous screening process,” VTA spokeswoman Brandi Childress said.
VTA developed the list following a series of community and stakeholder meetings, and a 2015 “Call for Projects.” Childress said that the list is not final and could be revised.
“We’ll have more public meetings to get a final round of feedback,” she said.
The list also includes a bicycle and pedestrian component, so Saratoga has included dedicated, city-wide bicycle lanes and a lighted crosswalk at Quito Road and McCoy Avenue.
Los Gatos proposes spending $3 million to extend bike lanes down Los Gatos Boulevard from Camino Del Sol to Blossom Hill Road.
The list also includes Highway 85 noise abatement projects.
A noise abatement study is already underway along the Highway 85 corridor. According to Childress, the study addresses concerns about the noise people who live near Highway 85 are experiencing. The study’s goal, she said, is “to try and find some more immediate relief.”
The study is expected to be wrapped up by late May or early June. The preliminary cost of the study is $77,000, which includes the costs of obtaining noise data and paying a consultant to look into noise reduction strategies, Childress said.
Saratoga City Councilman Howard Miller, who serves on a VTA policy advisory board made up of stakeholders from West Valley and North Santa Clara County municipalities, maintained that quality of life, which includes noise mitigation, should be part of the VTA board’s thought process as they study ongoing traffic and congestion issues on Highway 85.
“I continue to assert that quality of life needs to be one of the key metrics, not just for those who use the freeway but for those who the freeway impacts,” said Miller.
A lawsuit filed last May by Los Gatos, Saratoga and Cupertino challenging the environmental impacts of the proposed Highway 85 expansion is still pending, according to Miller.
Led by Caltrans, the initial environmental review was completed in April 2015.
However, Miller said the proposed Highway 85 project can’t move forward as long as the litigation is pending. For now, the lawsuit is “grinding its way through the system,” Miller said, with a lot of back-and-forth discussions between the three cities, Caltrans, VTA and the lawyers involved. Nevertheless, having to sue two agencies that have been helpful to the city of Saratoga over the decades has put the city in a “weird and awkward position,” he said.
“Lawsuits really never solve anything,” said Miller. “They are a step of last resort, so we didn’t enter into this lightly. We entered into it because we felt the concerns of our residents weren’t adequately addressed.”
Childress, meanwhile, noted that VTA is pursuing a new express lane strategy that could lead to sooner-than-later relief. Instead of trying to do everything at once, VTA is making some improvements in phases. Phase 1, for instance, was accomplished when express lanes were introduced on Route 237 in March 2012, while Phase 2 would extend those lanes to Mathilda Avenue in Sunnyvale.
Phase 3 would convert existing carpool lanes to express lanes centered around the 101/85 interchange in Mountain View.
Phase 4 is similar to Phase 3 but is centered around the 101/85 interchange in south San Jose, Childress said.
“With all that said, no funding is available at this time to deliver the projects but [phasing] is a much less expensive approach than delivering the corridors all at once while still offering some more near-term benefits, like travel time savings and a more reliable commute, which we are seeing in Phase 1 of our express lanes program,” Childress said.
Visit vta.org to download the Envision Silicon Valley project list.
Link: VTA could fund Hwy. 85 express lanes, more with sales tax increase
