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Mountain View has had a shortage of transportation planners over the past year, resulting in a backlog of street improvement and transportation projects. That could change soon though as the city recently hired its first “chief transportation officer” to oversee a newly formed transportation division.
Jessica Manzi, who has over 25 years of transportation planning and engineering experience, will start the position Oct. 26, according to a city press release. Most recently, Manzi worked for the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, serving as the director of project delivery.
“I am pleased to welcome Jessica to this strategic transportation role for Mountain View,” City Manager Kimbra McCarthy said in the press release. “She has deep technical expertise combined with broad experience in transportation planning, traffic engineering and policy development.”
As chief transportation officer, Manzi will lead multiple projects in the city’s transportation division, which falls within the public works department and includes the transportation planning and traffic engineering teams, according to the city’s organizational chart.
Some of the functions of the transportation division include shuttle operations, traffic safety, signal operations, roadway design and grant funding strategies, including for the Rengstorff grade separation project, according to the press release. As chief transportation officer, Manzi will also help guide the implementation of major policy initiatives.
That includes Mountain View’s recently adopted active transportation plan, which seeks to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety in the city, its Vision Zero policy, which aims to eliminate all traffic fatalities by 2030, and a transportation ordinance to reduce drive-alone trips.
Other functions of the transportation division include initiatives related to “complete green streets,” safe routes to school and a community shuttle service plan, the press release said. Over the next decade, Mountain View also plans to implement various street improvement projects, some of which are underway, including on California Street, Middlefield Road, Miramonte Avenue and Rengstorff Avenue.
“I applaud the city’s commitment to safe, sustainable mobility for the residents and visitors who move through Mountain View’s streets,” Manzi said in the press release. “I welcome the opportunity to lead the new transportation division and to partner with the community in shaping a transportation future for everyone, regardless of how they choose to travel.”
For the past three years, Manzi worked for the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, developing policy and funding strategies for grade separation projects. She also explored extensions of the U.S. Highway 101 express lanes, the press release said. Manzi was previously a transportation manager for Redwood City and worked for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency in a variety of roles.
Manzi is a licensed civil engineer and holds a dual master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley in city and regional planning and in transportation engineering. She holds a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Cornell University.
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This is a great idea. We need this ALONGSIDE new housing. The YIMBYs have no plans for how to move all these new people around.
The rest of Miramonte needs to be finished in it’s full repair, along with El Monte/Springer Roads in Mtn. View. My tires and suspension are suffering. We also need the boarded up buildings along ECR to be removed for housing. Can someone take on that job?
It would be great if we can get some common sense to traffic management.
This road diet is a nightmare, multiple intersections I either can’t turn into a clear left lane because of straight traffic backed up (with concrete divider) or left lane traffic queued blocks traffic from going straight when its a green light. This is what happens when the traffic stays the same rate and you reduce lanes but don’t increase the queue length for the turn lane. The viscous cycle repeats and you sit at the intersection through multiple light changes unnecessarily.
Villa left turn north onto Shoreline, during commute time the crosswalk shortens the left turn lane. Only 3-4 cars can go legally (multiple cars usually just run the light in disbelief its so short). I’ve seen Villa back up over 1.5 blocks, absolute mess. Then there is Villa street itself, the park construction by the relatively new apt. complex just blocks the crosswalks and the visibility, add on top of it the constant double parking from the complex traffic (movers, package delivery, car carriers, apt maintenance trucks, uber/ride shares, delivery apps) along with the 7 mountain speed bumps on Villa also not notched for emergency vehicles. Great planning on speed bump height by making the headlights point perfectly into the opposing drivers visual line of sight, nothing like being repeated blinded while you drive.
I would really like to not have to sit at a single traffic light with no traffic in front of me for over 15 minutes and have my Tesla shut down because it thinks I forgot to put it into park (On Crisanto, Right onto Rengstorff – each train skips the light rotation with no right on red, 3 trains exceeds 15 minutes, has happened many times). This hold true for Pedestrians as well, they usually wait long enough to where when it does turn green, they decide to walk right when traffic starts to move and then everyone’s annoyed.
El Monte is pretty rough lately, the potholes are starting to rival the speed humps on Villa. The Shoreline construction also seems to have no end in sight, 3 lanes are really needed along Shoreline.
Waste of tax dollars! Mountain View govt keeps asking for more money in taxes and bonds and spends it on useless govt jobs. The money spent on this yo-yo can be another 2 people working on pot holes or building inspectors that are overloaded! Govt spend on thyself to hire a buddy instead of what city needs!
Mountain View is facing multiple severe transportation issues that demand immediate attention, yet city leadership seems exclusively focused on appeasing a very-small, vocal group of cycling enthusiasts. In the process, they have made daily commutes a living hell for the vast majority of residents who must rely on their vehicles for daily work and family obligations.
Closing Castro Street to vehicular traffic was a terrible mistake. While it might appeal to a select few, the reality is that many businesses not located immediately next to the train station have been forced to close due to a significant drop in customer traffic. Displacing this traffic has also turned Villa Street into an absolute nightmare for anyone trying to access the downtown area.
Furthermore, the recent “road diet” lane reductions are completely nonsensical. Shrinking road capacity has created a bottlenecked disaster, particularly for residents living near the California Street and Shoreline intersection, where the resulting congestion has made daily life miserable. Compounding all of this is a sprawling network of poorly timed red lights with durations that completely fail to account for real-world traffic flow.
It is time for the city to stop prioritizing ideological urban planning experiments and start fixing the infrastructure for the everyday residents who actually live, work, and drive here.