Photograph by Robert Scheer
The Saratoga Avenue overpass affords travelers a bird's-eye view of Highway 85 at rush hour.
By Sarah Lombardo
Caltrans officials announced last Wednesday they would begin plans to construct a median barrier along the entire length of Highway 85.
Officials originally said they would only proceed with a barrier along the two-mile stretch between Saratoga Avenue and De Anza Boulevard, where four accidents involving cars crossing over the center divide have occurred in the past 15 months. In the last six months, six people have died in collisions when vehicles crossed the median strip separating north- and southbound traffic.
Paul Hensley, Caltrans district division chief for operations, said the decision was made because of the rash of recent accidents.
Hensley said the planned barrier will be a "tribeam" design, a metal guardrail on wooden posts similar to median barriers along Highway 101. Though Caltrans is still working out costs, he said such a barrier along the entire stretch of Highway 85 should cost from
$3 million to $4 million.
"But it may be less," Hensley said. "We should have costs and a proposed schedule in about a week."
Hensley said construction should definitely begin by the end of the year, but he would like it to start sooner.
The announcement of plans to begin the barrier came on the same day yet another "cross-over" incident occurred on Highway 85, north of Winchester Boulevard.
In that early-morning incident, driver Bhaudar Atkar lost control of his pickup truck driving southbound on Highway 85 and swerved across the center divide. His truck came to rest in the northbound fast lane. Motorcyclist Robert Rasmussen suffered major leg injuries when he swerved to avoid the truck and hit the truck's front bumper.
According to police, this was at least the eighth such cross-over incident on 85.
Last Thursday, Alma Ribbs of Los Gatos, her twin babies (who were prematurely delivered by emergency Caesarean section) and the driver of a pickup truck that crossed the median were killed in a head-on collision on 85. Carol Klamm of San Jose was killed in a head-on collision on the same stretch of highway in February.
After last week's deaths, Saratoga Mayor Paul Jacobs appealed to the state Department of Transportation to push for a median barrier. In a letter to the department's district director, Joseph Browne, Jacobs wrote, "People are getting killed because no median barrier exists."
Saratoga City Manager Harry Peacock said the state regulations may be inadequate with regard to when a median barrier is necessary.
State safety regulations require a barrier on roads with a median less than 44 feet wide or if there have been more than three cross-over incidents within five years. The median on 85 varies from 46 feet to 50 feet wide.
Eileen Goodwin, executive director of the Santa Clara County Traffic Authority, said traffic speed was 55 miles per hour when the freeway opened. Now the speed limit is 65, and motorists regularly drive faster.
"I don't think anyone envisioned how fast people were going to drive," Goodwin said.
The California Highway Patrol has also announced plans to try to cut down on speeding on the highway by patrolling more often and installing radar signs along 85 to let drivers see how fast they are going.
"The device is the same we use on city streets, often near schools," CHP spokesman John Maxfield said. "It makes people more aware of their driving tactics." Maxfield said the sign could be in use as early as this week.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, August 7, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved