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With a mild climate, and miles and miles of orchards,
Santa Clara Valley was originally known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight."
Better known today as the Silicon Valley,
Santa Clara County is a vibrant, bustling high tech and business hub, and home to nearly
2 million people. Known for its innovation and considered one
of the top research and development centers in the world, the Silicon Valley continues
to thrive and grow. With an estimated 500,000 new residents expected in the next 25 years,
commuters need new options.
It is amazing how bad that traffic can be. Because I am flying over the traffic and in
many areas it is flowing just beautifully and you think you've got it made and then
it comes to a complete standstill.
After 5:30, say like another couple thousand cars have already beaten you to the punch.
The economy may be slumping, but the roads certainly don't say that.
With limited land and final resources to add more freeways and to address concerns of high
gas prices and environmental impacts, experts are exploring innovative alternatives to providing
motorists with fast, safe, and reliable commutes. Leading that effort is the Valley Transportation
Authority (VTA), the agency that oversees the county's public transit and highway
systems.
We have limited area for increasing the capacity on the freeway system. This is a valley that
is already urbanized and quickly becoming more urbanized. There is not a lot of room
left to be widening of freeways. So what we've got is a situation where a lot more people
and jobs are going to be created in the future. The current conditions are already congested
so the problem is how we deal with that growth from that sort of standpoint.
To help ease growing traffic congestion, VTA is planning to convert existing high occupancy
vehicle, or carpool lanes on the SR 85 and the U.S. 101 to new high occupancy toll or
Express Lanes. The new Express Lanes network will provide solo drivers the option of paying
a toll to use the lanes for a less congested commute.
We need to place a great premium on squeezing as much capacity as we can out of the existing
highway network. And that's what we think express lanes do. They allow you to not only
move more carpools and van pools and buses through the HOV system, but they also permit
single occupant drivers to pay their way onto those lanes so that you can get the maximum
through put through the same bit of concrete. So what we want to do is have traffic flowing
smoothly. We don't want people speeding over the speed limit because then they are
emitting too much pollution and we don't want them doing stop and go because then they
are also emitting more pollution than the car has to get from point A to point B.
By allowing solo drivers to pay a toll to use existing carpool lanes on State Route-85
and U.S. 101, we can offer commuters a reliable, fast alternative, and at the same time generate
revenue that will be used to operate and maintain the lanes, pay for highway patrol services
and support additional improvements in these corridors.
Well we're very pleased that VTA in Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley is one of
the pioneers for this express lane concept.
We have an aging freeway infrastructure, and we don't have the revenue available through
gas tax programs to be able to properly take care of the infrastructure we have or adequately
operate it. And so the express lane program provides an additional source of revenue to
take care of our freeway system so that they are free of potholes and can be operated in
the most efficient way.
Curious about the Express Lanes? Here's what you can expect.
The Express Lanes are easy to use and operate 24/7. The California Highway Patrol enforces
the rules visually and electronically.
Transit vehicles, carpoolers, motorcycles and eligible clean air vehicles can use them
at no charge. Solo drivers with a FasTrak (R) transponder
can choose to pay a toll to use them. Signs alert you to access points and the current
toll. An overhead antenna reads your transponder
and the correct toll is automatically deducted from your prepaid account.
Tolls vary based on the level of congestion in the Express Lanes and are adjusted to keep
traffic moving.
Similar projects in San Diego and Orange County, and in Minneapolis and Seattle, have been have
been operating successfully and have proven popular with people from all income levels
and all walks of life.
Well regardless of where I visit and see express lanes and talk to business leaders and community
leaders, I hear nothing but good things especially Southern California. I have family that lives
down there, they spend a lot of time going to and from work and if they are lucky enough
to be able to use one of the express lanes they get to work quicker, less stress, less
frazzled by the time they get to work and then sometimes even more importantly they
get home quicker. But I also want to mention as much of a challenge as traffic has been
for the business community, and it does affect a business's bottom line, I think we also
have to look at the quality of life. We want to have healthy employees. We want to have
healthy employers and in doing that we want people to spend less time on the roadway,
more time at productive meetings in their offices or with clients, but we also want
people to be able to get home at a reasonable time and have extra hours to spend with their
family not stuck on roadways.
For anybody who absolutely has to get from point A to point B because of a family commitment,
or with school or with a job, that at least they have the option if they want to pay a
little bit more to use the Hot Lane that that is something that's available to them. For
me, the reason why I am in support of Hot Lanes is it is going to make improvements
to all of the transportation system. So even if you don't want to go on the freeway you
know that the streets are going to be improved or there is going to be an additional bus,
or there is going to be an additional light rail car or we're going to bring BART down,
so it just gives people more options to get from point A to point B.
Express lanes would improve my commute quite a bit being that it that I would be able to use it
at my disposal and not have to be stuck in traffic.
Another benefit will be that the express lanes will free up congestion in the other lanes.
If the lane is going to be paying for VTA improvements like more light rail or trains
or that kind of stuff, then I am more for it.
I have to be where I have to be when the client expects me to be there. So I can avoid being
in the traffic, traveling in the carpool lane is absolutely what I would want to do if that
was available to me. I would do it.
The Silicon Valley is recognized the world over for inventing
and adopting revolutionary new ideas. With the introduction of the Express Lanes, we
have the opportunity to apply our legendary technological know-how to overcome
the challenge of traffic congestion in our community.