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Mountain View is taking steps to begin work on its long-anticipated road safety improvements for California Street, responding to years of traffic collisions and a fatality along the busy corridor.
The pilot project spans a 1.2-mile stretch on California Street, from Showers Drive to Shoreline Boulevard, with a price tag of about $5.9 million – substantially less than the $30 million figure that the city cited last year for a permanent build-out.
To carry out the road improvements, Mountain View plans to award a $4.5 million contract to O’Grady Paving, a Mountain View-based company. The City Council is expected to approve the contract as a consent item at its Tuesday, Sept. 24 meeting.
The city of Mountain View plans to implement traffic-calming measures along a 1.2-mile stretch of California Street. Map by Jamey Padojino.
The initial estimate for the road construction was $3.4 million, but bids for the contract came in higher because of increased costs associated with materials, labor and transport, the report said.
Of the two companies that submitted proposals, city staff recommended that the city select O’Grady Paving because it was the lowest-cost option among responsible bidders, the report said.
Some of the planned improvements include reducing traffic lanes to create room for a two-way center lane and protected bicycle lanes, midblock crosswalks, median refuge islands, corner curb extensions and street repaving. To provide better sight-line clearance, the city plans to reduce street parking from 275 spaces to 212 spaces, according to the report.
Currently, the project is facing a funding shortfall of nearly $1.3 million. To close the gap, the city plans to appropriate money from its Measure B funds, the VTA sales tax that Santa Clara County voters passed in 2016.
Construction is expected to begin in December and will be finished by next summer, according to the report.
We approve tax money for one purpose and they feel free to just swipe it and apply it to something else! Great, huh? Next election vote all these jerks out.
“Improve bicycle/pedestrian safety, especially near schools” is right in the ballot summary for Measure B
When will he city begin work on Miramonte Ave? From Blossom Valley shopping center to El Camino is really bad. A lot of school traffic in this area.
Really don’t understand why the project is considered a pilot when the price tag is close to 6M. Should the pilot fail, do we put California Street back to its current condition…and kiss the 6M goodbye?
$6M is a lot less than $30M.
Does the design include structurally-separated bike lanes? With bollards or curbs? Paint is not infrastructure and does nothing to keep bikers safer. It’s time to examine how we use our streets and make all the streets have separated sheltered lanes fore bikers, and no right-turn-on-red anywhere in the city. I realize this is a radical proposal, but it is necessary for bike safety.
I don’t allow my kids to bike on city streets because the bike safety measures rely on the goodwill, care, and patience of car and amazon delivery drivers. We know how good relying on drivers to keep kids safe works. This is a good start, but not nearly enough to keep me, or many other parent from driving our high schoolers across town to school. Yes, I said highschoolers, who ought to be riding bikes everywhere, and would, if roads were actually safe for bikers. Until we limit right turns at stoplights and separate bike lanes with structures, I will continue to drive them.