December 16, 2004

S.J. City Council nixes Winfield Boulevard Bridge

Citizens who live near Almaden Lake Park express relief

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

It seemed almost fitting that Vice Mayor Pat Dando brought an end Tuesday evening to the ever-elusive Winfield bridge saga almost 10 years to the date of when she took office and began fighting hard against its construction.

On Tuesday evening, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales congratulated the seasoned councilwoman for finally nixing the proposal and quipped, “I’m not sure if it’s easier to get something in the general plan or out of the general plan. Way too hard to do either one of them.”

Thus ended the fate of the nonexistent Winfield Boulevard Bridge that pitted those who live around Almaden Lake Park against those who live in the more affluent part of the community and who see transportation as a major issue facing the valley.

By a unanimous vote, San Jose City Council members amended the city’s general plan, nixing the controversial proposal and other road changes that would have re-stripped sections of Winfield Boulevard and McAbee Roads and removed expensive recently completed medians, bike lanes and street parking.

In amending the general plan, the council changed Winfield Boulevard’s designation from a minor arterial to a local street and changed McAbee Road’s designation from a four-lane road to a two-lane road between Almaden Expressway and Camden Avenue.

Why a bridge in this quiet and serene part of town? Proponents said Winfield Boulevard is disjointed as a two-lane collector because it doesn’t cross Los Alamitos Creek, but instead forms two road segments. The project would have expanded the thoroughfare to four lanes erecting an 80- to 106-foot bridge that would have slightly alleviated traffic on congested Almaden Expressway.

Dando, in a Dec. 13 memo to the council recommending eliminating the bridge, said extending Winfield Boulevard would cause irreversible damage to the environment, the nearby neighborhoods and their quality of life.
If built, she said, Almaden Lake Park, Los Alamitos Creek, Los Alamitos Trail and residential neighborhoods would be severely impacted with noise, traffic and aesthetic and biological impacts.

She also said construction of the bridge would impact the park’s riparian corridor and adversely affect fish and other wildlife in the lake, creek and park.

“The bridge will do little to help siphon traffic off of Almaden Expressway as it will not provide commuters with a quicker and more convenient route to Highways 85 and 87,” she wrote in the memo.

Rather than pursuing the bridge, efforts should focus on projects to permanently improve traffic, increase Almaden Expressway’s capacity and not negatively impact the community.

She also noted that a comprehensive county expressway planning study recommends widening Almaden Expressway to eight lanes between Coleman Road and Blossom Hill Road. The study also recommends expanding Almaden Expressway to six lanes starting south of Camden Avenue to conform to the six-lane segment south of Redmond Avenue.

Dando, who will be termed out of office Dec. 31, criticized conducting an $85,000 environmental impact report to determine whether the bridge could be built and called it a waste of taxpayers’ dollars. She said city staff recommended the expensive document.

She said her office had received 99 letters and e-mails against the bridge and two against removing it from the city’s general plan.

“This has not changed much from 10 years ago when there was great concern about the negative environmental impacts on the Almaden Lake area and Los Alamitos Creek Trail,” she said.

Dando explained construction of the bridge was delayed until the Highway 85/87 interchange was completed to see if traffic circulation patterns changed. The interchange’s completion in 2003 brought much needed traffic relief to neighborhood streets by diverting an estimated 1,700 cars per hour onto the highways, she said.

The controversial bridge was somehow included in the city’s general plan about 40 years ago by traffic engineers who thought it would alleviate traffic.

The San Jose Planning Commission unanimously recommended Nov. 29 removing the proposal from the general plan. Most residents speaking before the council Tuesday evening were in favor of removing the bridge plan from the general plan. “We are worried about traffic at the intersection of Coleman Road and Almaden Expressway,” said longtime Almaden resident Charles Smith, suggesting the city convert the intersection into a three-way intersection like the intersection of Winfield Boulevard, McAbee Road and Almaden Expressway, with a third left turn lane added to Coleman Road making the intersection’s traffic flow much faster.

Nancy Wilson said building the bridge would create a major highway through her Almaden neighborhood. “Tonight before you I’m wearing a hat as a parent, neighbor, educator and a person who uses the trail and the park on a daily basis. I’m rubber stamping what everyone else has already said about the irreversible damage that would be created to our environment and safety,” Wilson said.

Leslie Smith spoke about the importance of preserving the park. “Saving approximately five seconds in commute time can’t justify the huge cost to taxpayers in the city to build the bridge, nor can it justify the increase in auto pollution and noise that would then surround the park on all four sides,” she said.

Alex Fraser, who reminded city officials about strong opposition to the project in 1995, again showed council members the more than 2,000 signatures collected more than a decade ago when residents opposed the bridge’s construction.

He also said the intersection of McAbee Road and Winfield Boulevard is dangerous with three fatalities occurring there in the last three years—a high school track team student killed by a motorist while jogging along the sidewalk, a pedestrian killed by a runaway car and a teenager killed almost instantly when he lost control of his vehicle.

John Green, who lives on Zinfandel Way, said he wanted the bridge proposal removed because he’s terrified when he crosses McAbee Road to get to the park. “I’m in fear of what would happen if McAbee Road becomes a four-lane road. People don’t slow down or stop at all at this intersection,” Green said.

The Almaden Valley Community Association’s board of directors, a group that has become increasingly criticized for taking on controversial projects in the district, voted Nov. 8 against negating the bridge plan. It sent an e-mail last month notifying its e-mail loop group members that an online survey of themselves had revealed 31 people voted to keep the bridge versus 11 people who voted to remove the bridge from the city’s plan.

The association’s support for the project, however, didn’t seem to sway strong community opposition to the project, particularly from those who live near the project area, to the bridge’s construction.

George Bettisworth said 50 percent of the lake park is surrounded by traffic already. Bettisworth said removing the bridge from the general plan would protect the park what he called, “surround-the-sound impact.”

Carl Rand said the traffic improvements in the environmental impact report were marginal.