SR 85 Express Lanes Proposal - the road to more congestion.

http://www.vta.org/News-and-Media/Connect-with-VTA/SR-85-Express-Lanes-Public-Comment-Period-Extended-to-Feb-28#.Uv5dvmJdXuM

You may have heard about the SR 85 Express Lanes proposal already.  You can still submit your comments directly to the VTA by Feb 28.  See the link above.  On Feb 5 at the Saratoga City Council meeting over 20 speakers mobbed the microphone to express concerns about the proposal as it stands.  On Feb 25 7:00pm at the Saratoga Library, a group of residents will continue the discussion about alternatives with city council members and Mr. John Ristow, VTA's Chief Congestion Management Agency Officer.

According to the VTA the Silicon Valley expects to grow at least 30% in population and jobs by 2040 and that Express Lanes maximize the efficiency of the existing car pool lane network.  While I'm ok with converting the SR 85 HOV lanes to toll lanes (HOT), I feel that the idea of adding a additional HOT lanes using the median reserved for light rail is extremely short-sighted.  I suppose the idea of long term sustainable growth has its challenges financially, politically and in the public awareness.  Yet SR 85 is like a commuter's Yellow Brick Road from the South Bay that passes Netflix, Apple, and Google.  A little farther up 101 and you get to Facebook.  In close proximity are the Campbell and Los Gatos downtowns, West Valley College, Cupertino downtown, DeAnza College, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Moffett Field and Shoreline Amphitheater.  If that isn't dense enough for folks to think about light rail, I'm not sure what is..When I heard and spoke to the VTA representative, John Ristow, on 2/5/14, I was somewhat surprised that alternatives hadn't been studied.  The additional lanes are proposed without a solution to the choke points at 85/280, 85/17 and 85/87.  There may have some benefit in the short term.  Additional lanes will buffer and soak up traffic and provide an apparent decrease in travel time until a commuter reaches a choke point.  If you ask me, I'd say the additional lanes are adding space to a 27 mile long parking lot, but that's just my opinion.  As an Internet engineer, I've upgraded slow networks to faster ones.  An HOV/HOT lane is something like high-priority for some data traffic.  In my career traffic prioritization has never really satisfied users and customers as much as doing a 10x upgrade using fiber optics.  Rail is sort of like that with about 10x the carrying capacity of cars.  It works best if it is built where the traffic is.  I believe SR 85 is such a case.

While it is great that VTA is focusing on the BART extension to Berryessa and speed improvements to the existing light rail system, I can't see a lot of Silicon Valley commuters going from there to SF.  I think the Apple and Google employees would much rather stay in their shuttle buses.

Please send your input to the VTA whether you like more HOT lanes or not.   There are instructions in the link above.
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John Chen
Saratoga Resident