County adopts first Active Transportation Plan, targets expressways for separated paths and equity investments

The Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to adopt "Active Santa Clara County," the county's first comprehensive active-transportation plan, which outlines strategies to expand walking, rolling and biking across county roads primarily through retrofits of existing corridors.

Deputy Director Chris Lamb and Roads and Airports Director Harry Freitas presented the plan as a countywide framework that scores corridors for safety, equity and health need, connectivity and feasibility. The plan identifies expressways'given their high vehicle speeds and collision histories'as priority corridors for class 1 shared-use paths or other physically separated bicycle and pedestrian facilities. Staff emphasized the plan is a retrofit strategy: "the county roads at this point are largely built out," Lamb said, so improvements will focus on redesign and retrofitting rather than new road construction.

An equity analysis overlaid high health-risk indicators (life expectancy, chronic disease markers) and socioeconomic measures to highlight neighborhoods in East and South San Jose and parts of South County as top-priority areas. The project team also recommended a five-year update cycle and created a priorities matrix that ranks projects as high, medium or opportunity-level based on safety, equity, connectivity and feasibility.

Public commenters included representatives from the bicycling advocacy community and local nonprofits. Speakers urged that expressway facilities be provided on both sides of wide corridors (rather than a two-way path on one side) and pressed for stronger intersection treatments at crossings. Jordan Muldoon, a volunteer on San Jose's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, told the board the plan is a start but that intersection design and two-sided routes on expressways are critical for safe, usable networks.

Supervisors focused on implementation, asking staff to prioritize grant-seeking and to coordinate with cities for project-level design. Chairing supervisor recommendations included asking staff to consider near-term, lower-cost safety improvements while advancing longer-term separated-path projects and to study San Martin and other unincorporated communities for targeted sidewalk and pedestrian investments.

The board voted to adopt the plan, direct staff to use it in project development and permit/grant applications, and to return with an implementation and funding strategy. The motion passed 4-0.

Ending: Staff said projects will be advanced through corridor feasibility studies and grant cycles; board members asked for ongoing updates through the Roads Commission and the Hewlett Committee.