My normal commute route takes me along Cabrillo, between Bowers and Los Padres, crossing San Tomas. There is some sort of construction going on at the intersection of Cabrillo and San Tomas, with the bike lanes blocked with concrete barriers and the right turn slip lanes to Cabrillo W of San Tomas closed. I have looked online to try and find out what is going on - there is a sign indicating that the San Tomas Aquino bike trail will be closed until May, are they extending the bike trail?
I am considering changing my route to ride Monroe rather than Cabrillo until they finish with the construction.
Mark
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pmackay
January 16, 2013 - 9:19am
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Me too
You beat me to the question! Anyone know what's going on here and what the schedule will be? Is this County or City work (San Tomas is County, Cabrillo and that portion of the trail is City)? It's a typical job (like that curb project a few years back on San Tomas) that looks like they threw some "Share the Road" signs up after the fact, like those will help with 50+ MPH traffic while I'm taking the lane on San Tomas southbound. I'm recovering from surgery and just about ready to get back to bike commuting but this has me concerned (plus I won't be riding so hard/fast at first).
Good luck on Monroe Mark! As someone pointed out in the other thread, definitely a place needing bike lanes. I'll check the calendars to see when the Santa Clara and SCC bike committees are meeting and see if I can make it.
mark_s
January 16, 2013 - 2:01pm
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I asked this question of
I asked this question of Jennie Loft at VTA - and she got me an answer from Neal Lozano at the City of Santa Clara:
pmackay
January 16, 2013 - 2:57pm
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Thanks!
Thanks Mark. I currently ride San Tomas for this existing leg for both speed and safety - the trail drops you around a blind corner and the existing 'safety' barrier doesn't give you the best visibility to oncoming traffic. The merge at El Camino in its current form is abhorrent though - they could at least apply some colored paint like they do in danger zones in more bike-friendly cities. I can't imagine where they can route you beside San Tomas itself on this stretch, and I'd much prefer seeing traffic I'm riding with and not taking it by surprise around a corner (while drivers look the opposite way to time breaks in traffic).
I've previously spoken with engineering staff (who don't ride) at bike committee meetings and they have a strong feeling that bicyclists/pedestrians need to be protected from cars in adjacent paths by big, thick walls. What they're missing is that the danger is really at the intersections and merges. Also their current accommodations for the project duration leave a little to be desired - inconveniences like this make non-cycling drivers LOVE bike infrastructure (aka "pork barrel") projects.
Thanks for the pointer. I'll be riding this stretch on the road unless/until they come up with a decent solution and not another ill-informed attempt at 'safety'. Just keep narrowing the buffer - like the county did with curbs a few years back - and pretty soon I'll be holding up traffic for longer stretches of San Tomas (I'm fast, but not carpool-lane-fast). Or heaven forbid I'll become a statistic.
Before I get pessimistic, though, I wonder if Mr. Lozano will take a quick ride with me? Looks like it's time for me to volunteer for the bike committee again...
pmackay
January 16, 2013 - 3:08pm
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Here are the plans
OK, here it is, they're taking the trail over to Calabazas via Cabrillo. No worries, I still won't be riding that way.
http://santaclaraca.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4947
http://santaclaraca.gov/index.aspx?page=305
This will be great for closing some gaps and hopefully getting the "interested but concerned" demographic to feel safe bicycling. Just please leave those of us trucking straight down San Tomas at 20+ a little elbow (mirror) room. Oh, and throw some paint down at El Camino to give drivers more warning than just my arm that I'm coming into the middle of the carpool lane while they fight to hit the corner first.
Thanks again - rubber side down!
Tia
January 22, 2013 - 11:42am
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Thanks for the 411
I wondered what was going on. I ride the trail to San Jose almost every day for work and this has altered my route home. Fortunately I live in Santa Clara so don't have to even think about riding on San Tomas. I'm way too slow for that traffic and take Monroe.
While it's inconvenient that it's closed now, I'm looking forward to the trail extension as I truly appreciate being able to ride my bike around safely. The satisfaction I get riding under the 101 traffic puts a smile on my face as does the quacking of the ducks each morning.
One request, and probably the folks here don't need reminding, PLEASE don't pass pedestrians on the trail when you can't see who is in the oncoming lane. I've had 2 close calls from impatient cyclists passing peds in blind spots. Other than that, happy to be a new member to the bike coalition.
Cheers, Tia
Kirk
January 23, 2013 - 3:11pm
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Those are not the plans!
pmackay, those plans that you linked to have nothing to do with the spur trail to El Camino along the westerly side of San Tomas Expressway.
pmackay
February 1, 2013 - 10:52am
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Good to know
So I tried taking the lane one afternoon last week a little after 3 PM, broad daylight, almost got creamed. I switched my route to Los Padres for now - slower, but much safer. If that's not the work they're doing I'd love to see the plans for the ends of this trail. The problem with 'spur trails' is they can put fast cyclists in confined areas with pedestrians and dog walkers, and city engineers who don't ride then take away width from buffer lanes as a result as they assume all cyclists will now ride on the trail only. The 'spur trail' to Cabrillo is bad enough as it dumps cyclists out around a blind corner (have heard this complaint from motorists as well as other cyclists).
Kirk
February 4, 2013 - 9:58pm
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South of El Camino
Now there are notices on all the trees south of El Camino (on the eastern side of the expressway) that these trees are going to be removed to extend the Creek trail. I have no idea how they intend to get the trail from the NW corner of SanTomas/ElCamino to the SE corner. I have really mixed feelings about this; those trees are huge and have obviously been there for decades. Seems a shame to go chopping ever last one of them down.
pmackay
February 5, 2013 - 5:01pm
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I'm with Kirk on this one
The county made it hard enough for us when they put those useless curbs in a few years back (great use of budget!), and I strongly disagree with Santa Clara Engineering's school of thought that cyclists need to be buffered from traffic by high concrete walls. The best thing they could do for us here is widen the buffer lane some and apply a color treatment at the southbound merge (w/El C). It would be much cheaper and more effective for those of us (and I know there are many) who bike commute up and down San Tomas. The STAC extension plans I linked to do plenty to address the "interested but concerned" biking demographic, let alone pedestrians, joggers, and dog walkers.
Chopping out all those trees and putting us onto the sidepath only to be dumped out around yet another (even more dangerous) blind corner would make no sense to me! Unfortunately I just missed the January Santa Clara BAC meeting last week so I guess I should go over to City Hall and ask them about this.
Sometimes I feel like they go backwards in the name of going forwards here... in that sense I miss where I used to live, where I regularly cycled with the traffic engineers who did the actual bike infrastructure planning.
Kirk
February 6, 2013 - 3:53pm
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Spoke with the County engineer today
The plan is to extend the trail to Madera Drive by this summer. It will stay on the West side of the expressway. It will be seperated from traffic with a concrete wall (except for road crossings of course)
They will also be adding a 2nd left-turn lane in all 4 directions at SanTomas/ElCamino. That's what the tree removal on the SE corner of the expressway is for.
He assured me that expressway shoulders will be maintained throughout, and cyclists will not be forced onto the trail.
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