Gilroy is speeding toward a high speed rail line and a new road and bridge on 10th Street. So far, the roadway is winning.
The trains could be rolling in 2024 and environmental impact study of the 110-mph rail line should be finished by the end of 2017, the regional director of the California High Speed Rail Authority told a joint City Council and Gilroy Unified School District meeting on Feb. 8.
“I wish that everyone was Gilroy,” said Ben Tripousis, the director, based in San Jose, after hearing comments from the audience about how they hoped the rail line would bring more foot traffic and customers downtown.
Tripousis was brought in to let the school board know how the rail line could affect schools, but his answer was that it shouldn’t have any more effect than the current rail line has. The line’s goal is to keep the trains on the rail right-of-way used by Union Pacific, adding a track close by. Between Gilroy and San Francisco, it will use CalTrain tracks.
He also said the authority’s goal is to have its opening routes be the ones that will be profitable, most likely San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim. In other places where the fast-moving trains have been built between two cities, air traffic has cut down or gone away entirely, he said. People prefer the convenience of the trains that can take them right to the downtown.
“If statewide service moves this way, it’s supposed to create an opportunity for Gilroy to be a hub of its area,” he said. “It’s critical to the region, not just the local community, to ensure high speed rail is an asset, not an eyesore.”
He offered some hope for job creation in Gilroy, saying that the authority was considering it as one of two cities for a maintenance yard. The other is Brisbane.
Meanwhile, city planners unveiled a plan to build a new $4.5 million bridge on 10th Street over Uvas Creek, something that has been talked about since 2005 and could be completed by 2018. The bridge is needed to accommodate traffic from the 1,700-home Glen Loma development which is covering most of the expenses. It would include a tunnel for the bike trail along the creek and two traffic circles leading to Gilroy High School.
Both of those had some controversies. Some said they feared homeless people or high school students would take advantage of the tunnel, which is more of a path under the bridge, than an actual tunnel. Others feared that cars and students crossing the street would have trouble navigating the roundabouts.
However, city transportation engineer Henry Servin, said he is a big proponent of the circles and once people understand them, they greatly speed traffic flow.
The city also learned that the vacant Jeffrey’s restaurant has been bought by the Hampton Inn, which will open a restaurant there.
