A busier Caltrain schedule, more efficient bus routes and less
congestion on the highway are some of the ways South County public
transportation users may benefit from the Valley Transportation
Authority’s latest long-range plan which was released last
week.
MORGAN HILL
A busier Caltrain schedule, more efficient bus routes and less congestion on the highway are some of the ways South County public transportation users may benefit from the Valley Transportation Authority’s latest long-range plan which was released last week.
According to Santa Clara County Supervisor and VTA board member Don Gage, use of the north-south Caltrain system has gone up by 15 percent in Gilroy in recent years, and VTA bus routes in South County have seen up to 10 percent more use.
The Valley Transportation Plan 2035 was developed to meet these growing public transportation needs. It lists the long-range road and transit projects that VTA hopes to find money for and complete in the next two and a half decades. Gage said the plan equates to a transportation “wish list” of projects slated for both immediate and long-range completion.
“They’re saying the population of the state of California is going to double by 2050,” Gage said. “We have to plan for those things and put these projects on the list, even though some of them may not be funded.”
One of the more immediate improvements listed on the plan is double tracking the Caltrain system from Gilroy to San Jose, which the VTA hopes to accomplish by next year. Gage explained that now the VTA leases Caltrain tracks from Union Pacific, an arrangement which gives the public transport system only a limited window to carry commuters from north to south.
A parallel set of tracks on the route which would be used exclusively for Caltrain would allow many more departures and arrivals at the Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy stations. Now there are typically three trains running north from these stations each morning, and one going south each evening. Double tracking would allow the train to run in the middle of the day, and would open up reverse commute options.
“That’s going to be a huge step forward,” said Gage. “If people have to come home in Gilroy in the middle of the day they’ll be able to do that.”
Plan 2035 also includes a project to modify the Caltrain system to run on electricity from Gilroy to San Francisco.
Jeff Pedersen has ridden Caltrain to and from his job with the City of Santa Clara since the mid-1990s. He leaves from the downtown station at Third and Depot streets every morning. He arrives home each evening on the 5:11 train.
Pedersen, 59, doesn’t expect double tracking to affect his commute as long as the morning and evening train schedule doesn’t change. He said Caltrain service has been “consistent” over the years. He said there are occasional delays due to construction and track improvements, which generally become more of a problem further north.
The train is preferable to driving for a list of reasons, Pedersen said.
“It gets me into a schedule, and it reduces stress in my daily routine by not having to drive,” Pedersen said.
For those who will continue driving, Plan 2035 hopes to make their commute less stressful. One local project on the list is a four-lane truck route for Highway 152 between Gilroy and Hollister, Gage said. San Benito County has agreed to the project, “and now we’ve got to get the money,” he said.
The new route would run from Highway 156 in Hollister, next to Highway 25. Pacheco Pass, the current two-lane road that becomes congested on this route, would become a county road, Gage said.
Another road project that South County automobile users will notice is a flyover from the west side of U.S. 101 in Gilroy, between Masten Avenue and Leavesley Road, to Saint Louise Regional Hospital which is across the freeway on No Name Uno.
Because the west side of the highway at that site is mostly residential property, and the east side is mostly commercial and industrial, Gage said currently it can sometimes be difficult to get to the hospital. A new elevated bypass would drop motorists “right down into the hospital,” he said. “We have to be able to get people from the east side of 101 to the west side.”
But both of these South County road projects are a long way off, if the funding can ever be secured.
“With the state and the federal government in the (financial) trouble they’re in, it’s hit or miss if we can get the money,” Gage noted.
The updated VTA plan also includes an annual evaluation of bus routes that takes place once a year. Gage said they will examine which bus routes have seen declining use, and which have seen more use in the last year, and adjust schedules accordingly.
Also, he mentioned the bullet train for which voters approved a bond in the November 2008 election. The high-speed rail system is another long-term project, and will have a stop in Gilroy. That train would allow passengers to get from Gilroy to Los Angeles in about two hours.
The VTA serves as the congestion management agency for Santa Clara County, and has an annual operating budget of $338.6 million.
