Speeders beware!

Traffic enforcement stepped up through Sunrise-Almaden neighborhood

By Barbara Luis

Staff Writer

Vice-Mayor Pat Dando has promised to seek special funding from the city of San Jose to help slow traffic along Redmond Drive in the Almaden-Sunrise neighborhood. She says getting extra money for the improvements is a “long shot” but not impossible.

Meeting with concerned residents at the Almaden Library Tuesday night, Dando introduced Henry Servin with San Jose's Department of Transportation, who explained the city's tentative plans to address the neighborhood's growing problem with speeders.

After completion of a full study of neighborhood traffic patterns, including volume and speed of traffic at varying times of the day and night on different streets, he assured residents the problem “is not as big as it may look.”

Pointing to a recent increase in police patrols, particularly along Redmond Drive, Servin went over a list of ways to help slow speeding cars and trucks from 50 and 60 miles per hour down to an acceptable 35 miles an hour.

City leaders could order a round of roadway improvements in the near future at an estimated cost of $600,000 to $800,000 or more. Proposed improvements would place “roll curves” in the center divide, meant to put the squeeze on Redmond Drive along dangerous turns. More stop signs would be placed at key intersections throughout the neighborhood. But Servin then cautioned residents saying, “Any sign I put up, any device I put up, is not magic.”

As District Ten representative, Dando also pledged to keep an eye on future growth and density in the general neighborhood with an eye on traffic impact.

Midway through the meeting, residents suggested placing a special tax assessment on their property taxes to help offset the cost of roadway improvements. But Servin and Dando both warned it would take a “high degree of consensus from your street” to put the plan into action.

Official Russ Taft mentioned upcoming electronic radar signs to be installed along Redmond Drive next week as part of the city's “traffic-calming” plan. Taft also wants to educate Leland High School students about the importance of traffic safety. He says he plans to get help from Leland Principal Susan Votaw to reach students who regularly speed through the streets before a tragedy occurs.

According to Servin, “Most often it is ‘we' who are speeding in our neighborhoods.”

Meantime, Dando says it will take several weeks before plans can be finalized. But toward the end of the meeting, she promised to get back to residents before the end of the year. “We'll work together. I can't encourage any false expectations and it won't happen overnight.”

Those with questions or problems concerning traffic in the city of San Jose can call the Department of Streets and Traffic at (408) 277-4304.