CHAK'S TAKE: The City of Gilroy - Build 4000 More Homes? And effect on traffic in Morgan Hill?

30 minutes more of commute time between San Martin and San Jose State University? That is not what I may be thinking of in regards to the already growing traffic along one of the most congested corridors leading up to San Jose and points north. Back in March 2015, Gary Richards, better known as Mr. Roadshow, wrote an article in the Mercury News that has seen traffic jump by 37 percent. But there has been late word that plans by the city of Gilroy to build more housing units could jump traffic even more. So why are people divided over this proposal? And why could the city of Morgan Hill be concerned over increasing traffic on Monterey Road and Butterfield Blvd?

CITY OF GILROY PLANS

Let's face it this way - according to one article, the city of Gilroy has acquired more land that will range from the current city limits to the intersections of Monterey Road, Fitzgerald Avenue, and Santa Teresa Blvd, adding 721 acres. The city of Gilroy and the city's planning commission, as well as community members, are on opposite sides of the issue. Gilroy's current population at last check is just over 53,000 residents, and with acquired land, could expand to over 60,000 residents. Some opponents on the plan have said enough about the expansion, referring to the fact that farm plots will be taken away.

TRAFFIC IMPACTS IN MORGAN HILL

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) handles congestion management, but they have yet to react to Gilroy's expansion announcement. But with Gilroy trying to expand it's acquisition of acreage, my concern is more on the traffic impacts the city of Morgan Hill could have, as traffic at times have been at a standstill even with the newly installed metering lights turned on. The year 2003 was the last time that Morgan Hill saw a huge expansion, with U.S. 101 expanding to four lanes in each direction between Cochrane Road and Bernal Road in South San Jose.

Traffic anchors who are familiar with the route, such as KSBW's Michelle Allen, KNTV traffic expert Mike Inouye, and most recently, KCBS radio traffic reporter Kim Wonderley saw the impacts when accidents occur along either 101, Monterey Road, or Santa Teresa Blvd between Morgan Hill and San Jose that creates a ripple effect. The most common prudent slowdown occurs between San Martin Ave and just after East Dunne Ave exits, when traffic is slowing down to as little as 15 miles per hour. Adding any accidents along 101 and traffic can turn traffic to a nightmare, slowing down to as little as 5 miles per hour (but no more than 10 MPH) on average.

Part of the problem with the slow traffic between San Martin and East Dunne exits along 101 is the current lane configuration. The original Monterey Road used to be part of U.S. 101 before the construction of U.S. 101 freeway bypass that opened to traffic in 1973. Traffic in each direction is currently only three lanes, and neither the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) nor Caltrans has any short-term plans to expand the freeway, as the recently installed metering lights between Gilroy and Morgan Hill is only one of the long-term plans along the corridor. However, 101 south of San Jose is only part of the long-term solution that is included in the Silicon Valley Express Lanes project. The only problem is that the short-term solution is to expand the freeway to as far south as Tennant Avenue exit, and not the high-occupancy lane (HOV) or express lanes that Gilroy residents would want from VTA. Out of all the onramps from the east side of 101, only Tennant Ave remains configured in a single lane without HOV.

Morgan Hill city streets that parallel near U.S. 101 like Butterfield Blvd, Monterey Road, Condit Road, and Murphy Avenue have occasionally experienced traffic congestion from the many times I've attempted to drive either directly to San Jose State University or to either Santa Teresa or Ohlone-Chynoweth light rail stations to catch a light rail to SJSU. Some people elect to drive on side roads as far north as either East Dunne Avenue or Cochrane Road to enter 101 northbound during the morning commute.

But the congested traffic is not limited to the morning commute despite the number of metering lights installed at each on-ramp between California State Route 85 and State Route 25. Even with the metering lights turned on between Gilroy and Morgan Hill, that has done little to relieve congestion. The Express Lane project still has plenty of unanswered questions about the needs of Gilroy commuters to San Jose and points northwards.


REACTIONS AND COMPLAINTS BY DRIVERS

I was not the only one that was complaining about the morning commute along U.S. 101. There were other drivers that also voiced their frustrations as Butterfield Blvd to some drivers have turned the road to much like a Santa Clara County expressway, such as in the case of Heather Hays Ancheta. Ancheta also told me that some Gilroy city streets were congested, but not enough to be at the same level as Butterfield Blvd. Monterey Road between Leavesley Road and Butterfield Blvd is currently the only high-speed alternative to the main U.S. 101 based on speed limits. However, the maximum speed limit in Santa Clara County is only at 50 miles per hour, and none of Santa Clara County roads that I've been on besides state highways and freeways have posted speed limits of 55 miles per hour. Ancheta's husband is the commuter, and she remembers that it takes up to an hour between Gilroy and Milpitas, and more than two hours with accidents along the route.

Speaking of speed limits, California State Highway 152 (Pacheco Pass Highway) is among the few rural roads in Santa Clara County that have a posted speed limit of 55 miles per hour, and 65 miles per hour east of 156. Jenny Mosher told me in her complaint that her husband took three hours to commute from Gilroy to Cupertino. In addition to the morning commute, weekend and holiday commuters were not spared from what Mosher was seeing. She told me that Leavesley Road and New Ave were among the streets that drivers used to bypass the heavy traffic on 152 as a method to get to the 101 freeway. This is in part due to businesses and the Gilroy Premium Outlets that line between the Pacheco Pass Highway and Leavesley Road along Camino Arroyo and Arroyo Circle that parallel the freeway, which creates even more gridlock for those using Leavesley Road.

Another commuter, Mary Pires, commutes every weekday and sometimes on the weekend along U.S. 101 between Gilroy and Santa Clara. However, her commute time clocks between 90 minutes and 2 hours going to work, and at least 75 minutes coming home from work. I found for myself that driving along 101 can be a headache that extends from Bailey Avenue to Masten Avenue exit, depending on where Pires would get off from. Most drivers would rely on side roads such as Santa Teresa Blvd (later Hale Ave) and Monterey Road to bypass the backups. But my findings reveal that on some occasions, neither Monterey Road nor Hale Ave are spared from traffic jams between Live Oak and Tilton, causing some drivers to use Dougherty Ave in order to dodge traffic jams.


MORGAN HILL'S REACTION TO GILROY PROJECT?

The worsening commute along U.S. 101 is questioning me on how the city of Morgan Hill plans to deal with the increasing traffic and the reaction that more residents are shifting from Santa Cruz county to either Gilroy, Hollister, San Martin, Morgan Hill, and beyond. The jump in traffic between Gilroy and San Jose puts U.S. 101 at a big risk of gridlock within the next 10 years if the trend does continue and the increase rate continuing to be stable, given that neither VTA nor Caltrans plan to expand the number of lanes within the next five years.

I attempted to make inquiries with the city of Morgan Hill and the city council regarding Gilroy's plan to put 4,000 more housing units plus expansion of land to near Masten Ave, as well as that impact to traffic in Morgan Hill. However, no response has been offered as of so far, and neither is the response to the city of Gilroy from Morgan Hill. Some of the questions I've asked also included whether Butterfield Blvd expansion to 3 lanes or expansion of left turn lanes to 2 are possibilities as a result of the Gilroy's housing plan. While Morgan Hill is not directly involved with Gilroy's housing plan, the traffic from the proposed housing unit in Gilroy may put more stress along Morgan Hill city streets that could have the city council chambers demanding answers from the Gilroy city council.


STUDENT OPPOSITION TO THE PLANS

I was not the only student that was aware of the opposition plans by people who saw the proposal. Robert Carerra, whose family lives not far from where I reside in San Martin, told me in regards to the annexation plans that he was shocked. But in addition, he was one of only two speakers that mentioned the plan, adding the fact that U.S. 101 is unprepared for commuters from the new proposed 4,000-unit housing complex given the current three lanes in each direction.


BUSINESS EFFECTS AND CONGESTION?

Gilroy's plans for 4,000 housing units may spell some trouble for companies doing business in the city of Morgan Hill, but it's unrelated to stock prices or corporate management. Some businesses like San Mateo-based SolarCity have an office based out of Morgan Hill, which in SolarCity's case is near the intersection of Cochrane Road and Butterfield Blvd. However, SolarCity may have trouble getting out of their office to customers who request any service from them. The situation only gets worse when the Morgan Hill Unified School District's Sobrato High School has a school day. That part was observed by me at least once on my way to SJSU, and might have caused delays of up to 15 minutes for a SolarCity vehicle to reach a resident's house who requests any service from them. The only other part of the problem is that SolarCity does not have an office in San Benito, Monterey, or Santa Cruz counties, leaving the Morgan Hill office responsible to serve those areas until an office is set up.


THE OVERALL PICTURE

But the overall picture puts businesses who either is based in or has an office in Morgan Hill on watch for any congestion that could have a ripple effect on the commute. Commuters typically must sit in traffic for at least 60 minutes going from Gilroy to San Jose and back. Add the housing and land acquisition to Gilroy's portfolio and it could equal disaster to commute times, likely to cause people to voice their frustrations over lane expansion delays and putting gridlock on U.S. 101 at an increasing risk.

EDITOR'S NOTE: There will be more to this take in a future blog, so please do look forward.

Original Work: Kyle Chak
E-mail: chak595301@gmail.com
Twitter: @KyleSChak