Charging single-occupant vehicles to use the carpool lane,
getting more people to use public transportation and extending the
territory of fee-paying developers are some of the recommendations
being considered by the South County Roadway Policy Advisory
Board.
MORGAN HILL
Charging single-occupant vehicles to use the carpool lane, getting more people to use public transportation and extending the territory of fee-paying developers are some of the recommendations being considered by the South County Roadway Policy Advisory Board.
The board reviewed the suggested improvements at a meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Community and Cultural Center in Morgan Hill. The traffic relief measures are part of the South County Circulation Study prepared by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and other valley agencies. The VTA established a South County Roadway Policy Advisory Board to discuss roadway projects and issues in the southern part of the county.
The revisions were drawn up after the board decided that the original idea of widening U.S. 101 from three to four lanes in each direction would not handle the high volume of traffic in South County.
The study is looking into charging single-car drivers for using High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) carpool lanes on U.S. 101 to increase revenue for road improvements as well as ease South County congestion.
Another focal plan is to get commuters out of their cars and into public transportation.
In the study, the VTA engineering team came to the conclusion that for most public riders, the first and last miles of their route are the most challenging to get to and from.
“Those potential HOT lanes are underutilized, public transportation is underutilized,” said VTA Senior Transportation Engineer Murali Ramanujan. “We have three new visions that will take care of some of the problems. Pricing, public transit-oriented solutions and land development issues are the visions.”
The counseling team suggested providing additional transportation like shuttles to get people from their homes to a public transportation hub.
The South County Circulation Study is working closely with the cities of San Jose, Morgan Hill and Gilroy, and the County of Santa Clara to develop a tiered roadway improvement implementation plan for the South County area up to the year 2030.
A sizable stretch of the county’s 635-mile unincorporated road network is located in the South County area and the study scope includes a number of county roads.
Santa Clara County Supervisor and advisory board member Don Gage said land developers located in the entire Northern California region should pay traffic impact fees rather than only land developers located in the county and surrounding areas.
“We need to look at this on a whole regional perspective,” Gage said. “If businesses in Salinas and Monterey are going to cause the need for transportation, then they need to pay to get on it.”
The board and VTA agreed that developed job sites outside of the county cause the high demand of transportation from commuters who live in the valley and those land developers aren’t being held economically accountable for the wear and tear of transportation on U.S. 101.
