August 25, 2005


Federal dollars to be used for widening
of Almaden Expressway

Matching Measure B dollars used to extend corridor to eight
lanes between Branham Lane and Blossom Hill Road

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

The estimated 150,000 motorists who use Almaden Express-way on a daily basis received good news this month when President George W. Bush signed a congressional bill allocating millions of dollars for transportation projects across the country.

Almaden Expressway extends 8.5 miles from Harry Road in the south to Highway 87 in the north. It contains 19 signaled intersections and two major freeway connections to Highway 85 and Highway 87. The expressway is designed to relieve local streets and supplement the freeway system.

Funding to pay for improvements to Almaden Expressway is contained in HR 3, or the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), approved by Congress July 29 and signed into law Aug. 10.

The six-year, $286.4 billion bill gives close to $22 billion, $6 billion more than expected, for nationwide specific transportation improvements. The state received about $2.5 billion for such needs. The bill covers fiscal year 2004 through fiscal year 2009.

The County of Santa Clara Roads and Airports Department will be responsible for making the improvements, as it’s the agency that oversees the area’s local expressway system, which includes the busy Almaden corridor.

The department sought close to $4.4 million to widen the expressway to four lanes northbound and four lanes southbound between Branham Lane and Blossom Hill Road.

It received $2.8 million in federal dollars. The difference between the amounts, about $1.6 million, will come from other sources, possibly Measure B dollars, explained Dan Collen, deputy director of the County of Santa Clara Roads and Airports Department.

“The discussions with Measure B administration have been positive so far,” Collen said. “We’re updating the cost estimate. The county doesn’t have the match money.”

Almaden Expressway extends 8.5 miles from Harry Road in the south to Highway 87 in the north. It contains 19 signaled intersections and two major freeway connections to Highway 85 and Highway 87. The expressway is designed to relieve local streets and supplement the freeway system.

Morning northbound commute on the expressway is typically queued up from Blossom Hill Road. Branham Lane also experiences backups during the afternoon commute along the expressway, which delays and frustrates drivers. Adding the lanes to this section of the corridor should smooth the commute through the area and decrease travel time.

Besides adding four continuous northbound and four southbound auxiliary lanes on Almaden Express-way near the Highway 85 interchange, the project calls for improving bike, pedestrian and signal upgrades and intelligent transportation systems along the same portion such as cameras along the intersections and communications systems to connect to the county’s traffic operation center.

Collen said a black aggregate re-surfacing project on the expressway in 2003 re-stripped the area south of Branham Lane to comply with the Bicycle Accommodation Guidelines.

The expressway’s section to be widened is generally three lanes northbound and three lanes southbound with some localized areas being four lanes.

“It’s the busiest spot on Almaden Expressway,” Collen said. “This helps assure that we have the money to move ahead with level of service improvements in this section.”

Work on the expressway, however, is not expected to begin until mid 2008.

Councilwoman Nancy Pyle, who represents Almaden and Blossom valleys, said since taking office a majority of calls from District 10 residents involve traffic concerns.

“These funds should provide much needed traffic relief for Almaden Express-way. Although Alma-den Expressway is a county roadway I plan to monitor this very closely,” Pyle said, upon hearing of the federal money being available for the expressway’s im-provement.

The County of Santa Clara Roads and Airports Depart-ment will work with Caltrans to get the federal money in place.

The project will also have to undergo design, environmental review and community outreach, he said.

A comprehensive county expressway planning study conducted in 2003, based on traffic data from 2001 and 2002, revealed that the intersection of Almaden Expressway and Branham Lane and Almaden Expressway and Blossom Hill Road had the worst level of service based on traffic flow and congestion levels caused by excessive delays and jammed conditions.

“The project we’re proposing will relieve those level of service problems,” Collen said.

Since the study was conducted, Collen said, the level of service might have slightly improved due to less traffic on the road because of the slowdown in the economy. “We’re still facing bad traffic conditions at Blossom Hill Road and we’re starting to see traffic coming back,” he said.

Collen explained the moneys were freed after the House of Representatives and the Senate concluded their actions on the congressional bill, which earmarked three projects on the county’s expressways, one of which is Almaden Expressway. The others are the San Tomas Expressway and Hamilton Avenue intersection and Oregon Expressway between El Camino Real and Highway 101.

Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Mike Honda were instrumental in securing the funds. Collen said the county gave the congressional leaders information about the expressway’s needs as it’s located within their districts’ boundaries.

The county’s Measure B Transportation Improvement Program targeted widening the expressway, which was deferred in 2003 due to a shortage of funds. The program is funded by the November 1996 voter-approved half-cent general sales tax dollar increment that extended through April 2006. Measure A, a companion measure on the 1996 ballot, outlined a specific package of transportation improvements for the county, which was overwhelmingly approved by the county voters.

Are six lanes to Camden Avenue in our future?
Collen said the department would like to continue the eight lanes south to Coleman Avenue during the next phase of funding. Improvements have also been suggested where the expressway’s six lanes end to extend them south from Redmond Avenue to Camden Avenue.

Collen said the department would also like to see how it could improve the Highway 85-Almaden Expressway connection. “That’s as much on people’s minds as moving along Almaden Expressway,” he said. “Maybe we can wrap that project into this federal project as well.”

For more information on the project, visit www.expressways.info. To view the entire congressional bill allocating transportation dollars, log onto http://thomas.loc.gov.