February 23, 2007

District 8 Report

Good news on the horizon for those frustrated with Highway 101 traffic

By District 8 Council Member
Dave Cortese
Special to the Times

Probably the single most issue I am asked about on a daily basis is traffic congestion in the Evergreen/East Hills/Silver Creek area.

While residents from all parts of the district will share with me specific street and neighborhood traffic issues, the one comment that I uniformly receive from any District 8 resident has to do with their extreme frustration over Highway 101 between Yerba Buena Road and the 280/680 interchange. The heavy congestion, the attempts by maniac motorists to jump on and off ramps; it all makes for a very dangerous and demoralizing situation.

I am a commuter, too, and so I am reminded daily of the imperative the community has placed on improving this section of highway to increase safety and decrease travel times. In fact, when I came into office in 2001 and learned that the Highway 101 improvement project was not a major priority of the City or the VTA, I worked with my colleagues at both entities to gain the necessary funding to get this project designed and make sure it was on the top of the list for construction dollars, once they became available.

As you know, the November 2006 election brought in sweeping changes, including overwhelming voter approval for Proposition 1B (Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006). This essentially is a cashier’s check for $19.9 billion to go towards safety improvements and repairs to state highways, upgrade freeways to reduce congestion, repair local streets and roads, upgrades highway along major transportation corridors, etc. But with cities and counties throughout the state competing for financial attention, $19.9 billion suddenly seemed a modest sum.

As with anything in life, there is good news and there is bad news. First the bad news – Santa Clara County, despite submitting several projects for funding from Prop 1B, only received partial funding for one project.

The good news?

The only project that received any funding is Highway 101, from Yerba Buena to the 280/680 interchange. The State is recommending an award of $45 million for this massive construction project. The overall cost of improving this stretch of Highway 101 is $108 million.

This is a coup for San Jose and is especially significant for District 8. As you may have heard, the Evergreen East Hills Vision Strategy has, over the last three-and-a-half years, been looking at establishing a new set of growth limits for our area. Part of the equation for these limits has been figuring out how to finance the improvement of Highway 101 (this was prior to Prop 1B being introduced by the State) and amenities for our District 8 community in order to absorb the proposed growth. The vision strategy Task Force deliberated for countless hours over how many new housing units should be permitted to enter our area in order to generate enough funds to fix 101. Now, with the introduction of state dollars, the community can leverage the development process and either recommend fewer homes come to our area or more amenities come to our area. It’s pretty much a win-win for District 8.

To all of you who patiently advocated for Highway 101 to get attention, congratulations. Your persistence has paid off, literally. I will continue to work on this at City Hall and I look forward to all District 8 residents enjoying a careful but enjoyable cruise up or down Highway 101.