The news keeps getting better for South Valley commuters holding
their breath for a better commute.
The news keeps getting better for South Valley commuters holding their breath for a better commute.
Work crew availability and contractor timeliness, Valley Transportation Authority officials say, are allowing them to forecast an even earlier completion date for the U.S. Highway 101 widening project than originally planned.
The project’s completion date for the Highway 101 southbound lanes was originally slated for September and moved up to late March last fall. This week, VTA officials are projecting an “mid-March” end date.
“I’m happy it’s finally getting closer to completion,” said Mayor Dennis Kennedy who previously served on the VTA board. “It’s never soon enough but VTA has done a good job managing the project aggressively. The public needs to be patient just a little while longer. We are almost to the finish line.”
Kennedy had checked with his “sources” at VTA and obtained the latest information, which VTA officials confirmed.
The two extra southbound lanes will open from Metcalf Road to Cochrane Road by mid-March. The “bottleneck” between Bernal and Metcalf Roads will remain, Kennedy said, until approximately mid-April when those extra lanes will open and southbound traffic should flow smoothly for the first time in years.
Northbound lanes are on a different schedule. The status quo will remain on northbound lanes between Cochrane and Metcalf Roads until the Metcalf to Bernal section is finished – also mid-April.
“The schedule actually calls for the Metcalf to Bernal portion to open April 1 but,” Kennedy said, “that is an extremely aggressive timetable, not likely to happen – especially if it rains again.”
A related project, slated for completion in July 2004, connecting the HOV – or commute lanes – to southbound Highway 101 with Route 85 in south San Jose.
Already, Highway 101 drivers are being directed onto new pavement as crews do “finishing” and “shoulder repair” work, said John Pilger, a VTA spokesman. Lane shifts will continue until all the work is completed.
“We’ve been doing various lane shifts. Until everything is done motorists need to look for workers and traffic advisory signs,” Pilger said.
Once completed, the work is expected to cut the morning northbound commute by 12 minutes and the evening southbound trip by nine. More significantly, for drivers who get easily frustrated with the normal stop and go for that area, average speeds will jump from 28 mph to 65 mph northbound and from 35 mph to 65 mph going south.
Work on the northern connector between Hwy. 85/Hwy. 101 began Wednesday in Mountain View. That $142 million project is a joint effort by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Santa Clara County.
It is also designed to reduce traffic congestion as well as improve interchange access and safety.
When completed in January 2006, the project will separate competing traffic movements by modifying interchange ramps, constructing a new freeway-to-freeway connector and adding special auxiliary lanes to provide additional room for motorists entering or exiting the freeway.
A direct connector between northbound Route 85 and U.S. 101 for high-occupancy carpool vehicles (HOV) will be part of the finished project.
“This interchange has been at the top of the traffic congestion list for years,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss. “It’s about time that this North County location got the attention and tax dollars that we need and deserve.”
Back in the South Valley, Gilroy Mayor Tom Springer said VTA board members had a running inside joke that the southbound lanes would be finished by the time the Gilroy Costco – a popular member only warehouse-style supermart – opens. So far, Costco will squeak by first when it holds its ribbon-cutting ceremony March 1.
Springer says the widening project will not only ease the commutes of South Valley workers, it could bring more tourism to the area, too.
“In so many ways, this is a quality of life issue. We’re talking about adding 10 minutes to a person’s life and taking away a whole lot of frustration people feel when they’re stuck in a bottleneck,” Springer said. “Right now, you have people asking themselves, ‘Why should I go down there (to Gilroy) to shop?’”
When the work is done, Caltrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission will determine whether the carpool lanes will be restricted to vehicles with at least two persons inside all day, or whether carpooling is mandatory only during peak traffic hours.
Pilger said VTA is not planning a campaign to encourage more carpooling.
“The incentive is if you carpool, you’ll save time. We’re sort of borrowing from the idea of ‘if you build it, they will come,’” Pilger said. “After this work is done it still will be imperative for drivers to get out of the one-person one-car mindset.”
The Highway 101 widening costs $52.2 million, paid mostly with Measure B funds, approved by voters in 1996.
The carpool lane project for Highway 101 and Route 85 totals $62.1 million. More than half the project is paid for with Measure B funds.
