City opens new $9 million trail link Around Town, posted by Editor, Mountain View Voice Online, on Jun 12, 2012 at 7:02 pm
After the ceremonial ribbon was cut, a crowd swarmed onto the new Permanente Creek Trail extension Tuesday, including a new bridge over Highway 101 and a tunnel under Old Middlefield Way.
Read the full story here Web Link posted Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 5:17 PM
Posted by reckless drivers, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Jun 12, 2012 at 7:02 pm
The only reason they wanted to build that tunnel is because reckless drivers come speeding off the freeway and don't obey the speed limits on local streets. The city should just close the Old Middlefield freeway exit and make the street much safer that way. There are plenty of other routes that drivers can take. Then we would not have needed to spend so much money on a pedestrian tunnel.
$3 million to build the pedestrian bridge over Hwy 101 then $6 million more to build the tunnel under Old Middlefield? The $3 million is certainly worthwhile, but the $6 million could have been better spent on by extending the trail to somewhere more interesting than Old Middlefield.
Posted by Mike, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Jun 13, 2012 at 2:56 pm
An outstanding overpass. Wonderfull. Pavement, not wood. The underpass is good, but will be dark and scary. Palo Alo won't even open the old underpass beneath 101 near San Antonio, so this is the only safe alternative to the narow street overpasses or the underpass on the Stevens Creek trail, which is dark, narrow, and scary.
Posted by reckless drivers, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Jun 13, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Palo Alto's underpass near San Antonio Road is closed because Hwy 101 construction makes it unsafe. Palo Alto promises to reopen it when the construction is over, but that may be a year from now.
Posted by NW Resident, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Jun 13, 2012 at 3:41 pm
The article mentions PA officials wondering why they don't have urban trails like MV's. Many years ago I used the bike path that runs from Los Altos to PA near Alta Mesa Cemetery and over to Gunn High. There's also a similar path near Bol Park and these might be considered urban trails.
Maybe PA wants trails that are more like MV's that reach the shores of the bay and companies located in those areas? I use the Stevens Creek Trail a lot and am glad we have it in MV.
Posted by trails, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Jun 13, 2012 at 4:09 pm
The Stevens Creek Trail is much longer and connects many more areas (employers, schools, parks, residences) than any trails in Palo Alto. The Stevens Creek Trail (and now the Permanente Creek Trail) also allow trail users to avoid dangerous freeway interchanges. The car-free multi-use connections are what makes Mountain View's trails the best in Silicon Valley. Palo Alto's freeways and expressways split the city into pieces and make travel difficult for pedestrians and bicyclists.
It demonstrates the problems with the trail at Charleston and Old Middlefield. The fix to Old Middlefield is to extend the trail to a more interesting end point. What is the fix to the Charleston crossing? That is a pretty busy street (on weekdays) and if the trail gets a lot of traffic, there will be significant conflicts at a wide crossing with no stop lights.
Posted by ADPOV, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Jun 15, 2012 at 11:47 am
I agree with reckless driver! 3 million is to much to build a bridge but I can get in board with that if it means safety for peds. 9 million is ridiculous! With everything going on in the city and the economy what it is, who in their right mind would build a bridge for 9 million! The whole project should have been scrapped when it tripped in cost!!!! Wow MV wow!
Posted by Steven Nelson, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Jun 15, 2012 at 5:21 pm
This is at least not as far as 85 bridge, but as Jim Pollart of 'Share Shoreline' has noted himself - most of the millions came from property taxes that DID NOT GO to education. 50% of the property taxes are diverted. Shoreline is one of the last surviving Redevelopment districts in the entire state. 99% of the 1% property tax is permanently under controll of the RDA (may or may not share as the council decides). Thankfully - the $30/ $100,000 school facilities override DOES apply to the $3,000,000,000 assessed valuation in the Shoreline District. $900,000 per year when the bond sales max out.
Posted by salty, a resident of another community, on Jun 16, 2012 at 12:15 am
While visiting from Pittsburgh, PA this week I had the pleasure of riding the bridge and tunnel a couple times. Very impressive, and it will be better when the trail goes past Old Middlefield (which I did not enjoy as much).
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