The Morgan Hill 2030 Circulation Element, the city’s vision for
transportation needs and improvements based on future growth and
land uses, was approved by the city council Wednesday.
The Morgan Hill 2030 Circulation Element, the city’s vision for transportation needs and improvements based on future growth and land uses, was approved by the city council Wednesday.
The updated element, which was passed as an update to the city’s general plan, downgrades the need for new four-lane streets and improvements to existing roadways and intersections throughout the city. It is the first update of the circulation element since 2001.
The new circulation element has been in the works for more than two years, and is based on newer traffic models and growth projections that consider large-scale changes in the past 10 years, including the widening of U.S. 101 and the removal of plans to develop Coyote Valley, according to Morgan Hill Community Development Director Kathy Molloy-Previsich.
Councilmembers praised the new report for the flexibility it provides in making future changes to city streets, such as whether or not to make Monterey Road through downtown narrower.
“For years out, this allows for more flexibility in how we want to structure (future road projects),” Councilman Larry Carr said.
Don Dey, a Morgan Hill resident and city of Gilroy engineer, suggested that future streetscape options on Monterey Road downtown should be a “grid network” with the median opened up and angled parking on the side of the street.
Earlier this year, the council voted to hire a consultant to study the options for a redesign for Monterey Road through downtown. Those options will include both two-lane and four-lane streetscapes, which the council will likely not vote on until next year.
Another Morgan Hill resident was concerned with the element’s preference for four-lane multi-modal north-south thoroughfares like Butterfield Boulevard, which employ abundant landscaping, wide shoulders and bike lanes.
“That adds a burden to an already over-burdened maintenance department,” Frank Manocchio said.
The updated circulation element reflects a more minimalist network of city streets than the previous element, supporting smart-growth tendencies, Molloy-Previsich said. Overall, the new plan cuts down on the need for new suggested roads by 43 miles.
For example, the latest traffic models show that Hale Avenue and Santa Teresa Boulevard connection in northwest Morgan Hill will only need to be a two-lane road, rather than the four-lane artery identified in previous projections. When the time comes for construction, that corridor should also have wide shoulders to make it more bicycle and pedestrian-friendly, Molloy-Previsich said.
Likewise, an eventually needed Murphy Avenue extension through east Morgan Hill to Mission View Drive will only require two lanes rather than four as the 2001 element suggested. And within downtown Morgan Hill, the new circulation element suggests that congestion around existing intersections will be tolerable without improvements for the foreseeable future.
Furthermore, allowing more congestion at some intersections might encourage more people to use public transportation or bicycles, and cut down on costs, and noise and air quality impacts, Molloy-Previsich said.
Some areas where traffic service will require enhancements include widening Tennant Avenue between Butterfield Boulevard and U.S. 101 to six lanes. Also, Monterey Road between Old Monterey and Cochrane roads will eventually have to be widened from three to four lanes.
The last comprehensive circulation study was based on modeling and trip counts taken during Silicon Valley’s dot-com era, when Morgan Hill was “booming,” Molloy-Previsich said. Since then, growth projections and updated modeling indicate less use of local roads and undeveloped land than previously thought.
The circulation element serves as part of the guide for the future development and service needs in Morgan Hill known as the general plan. Planning for individual projects will occur as those projects are needed, and would be more fine-tuned with more environmental studies and details laid out in the city’s future five-year capital improvement plans.
