Photograph by Robert Scheer
Cars line up at the southbound 85 onramp at Saratoga Avenue.
By Julie Mehta
The city learned last week that it will not get changes requested from Caltrans to ease traffic problems on the onramps to Highway 85 from Saratoga Avenue.
Last month, City Manager Harry Peacock sent a letter to the state Transportation Department detailing rush hour problems at the Saratoga Avenue interchange and suggesting several changes. These included increasing the metering rates, making the queue-detector loops operational, and installing "No Right Turn On Red" and "Signal Ahead" signs.
Caltrans responded that "Route 85 is operating as well as can be expected, given the amount of demand that wants to use this freeway" and stated it would make only some minor adjustments.
The city had suggested that the metering cycle might be too long. Caltrans maintains the capacity traffic on Route 85 between the Winchester Boulevard and Saratoga Avenue is slowing down because of landscaping being performed on the shoulders and that increasing metering rates would not help. Instead, it is currently working on slowing the De Anza Boulevard southbound interchange meter cycle so that fewer cars reach the Saratoga Avenue onramp. The Saratoga Avenue southbound meter should then automatically speed up, reducing the number of cars on the onramp.
The city had also suggested completing the software needed to make loop detectors installed near onramps functional. These would automatically increase metering rates when traffic backs up to the street. But Caltrans says this is unlikely in the near future.
"If they developed this, it would be applicable all over the state. All this money was spent on this extra technology, which is inoperative--that in my mind is ridiculous," says Peacock.
Caltrans also turned down the city's suggestions to install new signs. It says a "No Right Turn On Red" sign before the northbound Saratoga Avenue signal would not mitigate the problem of onramp capacity since nearly all of the northbound traffic already can't turn on red for lack of space.
Instead of posting a signal ahead sign north of the Dagmar Avenue signal as the city asked, Caltrans says it will put an additional signal in the median for northbound traffic.
Caltrans engineer Ron Kyutoku says Caltrans does not see the problems the city is complaining about.
"After we got the letter, we went out there several times and we haven't observed a backup. We haven't seen traffic spill off the ramps." But he says Caltrans will keep an eye on the situation.
Peacock says community members do see a problem and tell him they want something done about it. In another letter to Caltrans dated April 3, he suggested the city change the designation of the carpool lane on the northbound onramp to give left-turners a place to go so they can clear the intersection during the peak morning hours. Meanwhile, Peacock says the city is currently taking measures of its own to curb traffic problems. It is working to increase the interconnection between the signals between Cox Avenue and Fruitvale Avenue to improve synchronization and hopes to have this completed by this time next year.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, April 17, 1996.
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