January 9, 2009

Residents encouraged to attend and comment on expressways

Got ideas on how to improve Capitol Expressway? The County wants to know.

The County of Santa Clara has released a draft of its 2008 Update to the Comprehensive County Expressway Planning Study for public review and comment. A public hearing, hosted by the County Roads Commission, is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 8, at 4:00 p.m., at the County Govern-ment Center, 70 West Hedding Street, San Jose, in Room 157. All expressway users and concerned parties are encouraged to attend and give their opinions about the Draft 2008 Update.

The Capitol Expressway is one of eight expressways that form a 62-mile system that travels through 11 cities. The others are Almaden, Central, Foothill, Lawrence, Monta-gue, Oregon-Page Mill and San Tomas.

The Expressway Planning Study provides a long-term plan for the improvement and maintenance of the County’s expressway system. It covers the areas of capital improvements, operational and maintenance needs and funding strategies, and recognizes the unique character of each expressway. The Study was first adopted in 2003.

“The Expressway Study serves an important role in guiding the long-term development of the County’s expressway system,” said Super-visor Ken Yeager, Chairperson of the Expressway Study Policy Advisory Board. “We look forward to receiving comments from the residents about the Draft 2008 Update to the Study.”

The Draft Santa Clara County Expressway Study 2008 Update includes plans and projects for roadway capacity and operational im-provements, signal operations, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, bicycles, pedestrians, sound walls and landscaping, with a total cost of approximately $2.5 billion. The 2008 Update also covers the Santa Teresa-Hale Corridor connecting Gilroy and Morgan Hill.

“The County’s expressway system serves 1.5 million vehicles a day,” said Dan Collen, Deputy Director of Roads and Airports Department. “The expressways play an important role in relieving our local streets of commuter traffic and supplementing the freeway system.”

For more information about the Draft Expressway Study 2008 Update, go to: www.expressways.info. Residents are encouraged to attend the public meeting, but can also submit their comments through the methods below:

• By e-mail: Expressways2008@ CountyRoads.org

• By mail: Expressway Study 2008 Update, Roads and Airports Department, County of Santa Clara,
1505 Schallenberger Rd, San Jose, CA 95131

• By phone: (408) 494-2700

• By fax: (408) 298-3806

Deadline for submission of comments on the Draft Expressway Study 2008 Update is January 31, 2009.