Connect North San Jose plan advances; city describes three regional freeway-area projects to improve multimodal access

Pete Rice, transportation planner, presented Connect North San Jose, the city’s multimodal transportation improvement plan (MTIP) for an approximately 8-square-mile area bounded by State Route 237, Coyote Creek, Guadalupe River and the 101/880 corridors. Rice said the plan is intended to lead with equity, plan for expected growth, and promote mode shift by improving transit, walking and bicycling connections. He said the planning process began about 13 months ago; staff have held more than 11 outreach events with roughly 360 participants and plan a public workshop at the end of the month at a North First coworking space to gather final input before preparing a draft for review.

Rice said key project categories include corridor upgrades for pedestrian, bicycle and transit infrastructure; reimagining the street grid to create smaller, more connected blocks to support walking and transit; and transforming North First Street to strengthen last-mile connections and transit efficiency.

Neil Ong, senior engineer for regional project delivery, described coordination with Caltrans and VTA on several freeway-area projects critical to North San Jose access. Ong reported 101 Trimble construction is largely complete, including a widened bridge to carry a separated Class I bike/ped path and improved undercrossing lighting; remaining punch-list, striping and signal activations are targeted this spring. He said the 101 Zanker project (an overcrossing above 101 connecting Zanker/Old Bayshore to Fourth Street/Skyport) is in the environmental phase with preliminary engineering completed in 2020 and a draft environmental document circulated for comment; design is expected later this year. Ong described a project initiation study for 880 Montague and a grade separation at McCarthy Boulevard/O’Toole to improve traffic flow and connectivity; the team is preparing a project study report for Caltrans approval before moving to environmental analysis.

Members of the public and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee urged that projects prioritize fully separated bike and pedestrian facilities rather than “when feasible” language. Jordan Moldau and BPAC representatives asked the city to ensure widened streets include protected bikeways and improved intersection treatments. Council Member Campos asked how to incent “third spaces” (parks, grocery, gathering places) in North San Jose; staff said coordination with planning and economic development is ongoing to encourage ground-floor retail and mixed-use development to support those amenities.

The committee accepted the transportation activities annual report (which included the Connect North San Jose overview and the regional project updates) by voice vote, 4-0.