After Los Gatos failed to win a grant it went after—which was supposed to help it improve the safety of a key thoroughfare—planners returned to Council, Dec. 6, to present scaled-back designs.
But as Town staff outlined the new drawings for the Blossom Hill Road Traffic Safety Project, they were greeted by passionate pleas from neighbors who say these measures don’t go far enough to keep residents safe.
The project covers Blossom Hill Road between Camelia Terrace and Hillbrook Drive / Cherrystone Drive, a busy area used by commuters, Blossom Hill Elementary School and Raymond J Fisher Middle School students, and cyclists.
More than 7,000-8,000 vehicles pass through the corridor every day in each direction.
A traffic study conducted in 2021 recommended reducing the road from four to two lanes, eliminating the “free” right turn from eastbound Blossom Hill Road onto Cherry Blossom Lane and updating bike lanes.
These modifications carried a $4.6 million price tag.
Staff submitted a $4.6 million One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) application to fund a feasibility study, pavement resurfacing and permanent separators for Class IV bikeways.
This was denied by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, so staff came up with a new “Phase 1” plan they could begin to tackle with a fraction of the funding.
The Town plans to reduce travel lanes and add cycling and pedestrian infrastructure—but primarily through striping and other non-permanent “quick-build” traffic-control measures, not the more extensive, permanent improvements.
Los Gatos says it can reduce the two lanes in each direction down to a single lane on Blossom Hill Road, establish Class II bike lanes for westbound cyclists along the residential properties and put in Class IV bike lanes in the eastbound direction.
The Town is trying to do what it can with a $300,000 budget (minus the $48,410 it paid Hexagon Transportation for a feasibility study already).
But during the public hearing, Council got an earful about the dangers of the region from residents who felt the Town hasn’t been moving quickly enough on traffic-calming measures.
Mehrdad Alipour, a Blossom Hill resident since 2006, said he started pushing for safety improvements in 2016 when his daughter was in kindergarten.
“I was moving door-to-door getting the petition signed by neighbors, to get to 60% to bring it to the town for traffic calming,” he said. “Today I was at Fisher (Middle School) cheering my daughter playing basketball in the games. Seven years. I don’t want to go (into) what I have gone through in the last seven years.”
Instead he held up photographs he took of traffic accidents along the route.
“My question is, how is this plan going to make our neighborhood, kids, and my family safe from the cars that are driving—WHISH!—?” he asked, as he held up a photo of a fire hydrant that had been knocked over and carried dozens of yards by an SUV.
“You know, the park is occupied by the kids from 2pm, 3pm, tennis or baseball or any other activity,” he said. “My son was in a Halloween parade about a month ago and the parade was 1pm; and the cars were driving 60 miles per hour. And the sign says 25 miles per hour during the school hours. So, when is it dangerous? 24/7 time is dangerous.”
Rise Schwartz stepped up to the microphone with her husband David by her side. During more than 34 years living on Cherrystone Drive, they’ve witnessed their fair share of bad driving.
“I did not see or hear anything about the impact it’s going to have on our street at the end,” she said. “We have a one-way exit out onto Blossom Hill Road, and it’s a right-hand turn. I cannot tell you how many times a night we have people coming in the wrong way.”
She said they’ve even captured driver bad behavior on their Ring camera.
“We’ve got the garbage truck coming in every Friday morning—which, I let that go,” she said. “We’ve got the delivery trucks from FedEx, UPS. Everybody and their brother comes down that way.”
She said she worries that the Town’s traffic-calming project will lead to more bad driving in the neighborhood.
“They’re going to use that entrance at the end of Cherrystone Drive…to go up and make a right-hand turn on Dahlia (Way), or go straight—floor it—up the street to get to the four-way stop of Cherry Blossom (Lane) and Cherrystone,” she said, referring to the increase in wait times at the stop light staff has planned. “You mentioned it’s going to be two-to-three cycles for the stop light. The back-up’s going to be tremendous.”
Joanne Justis, a logistics consultant, said she was “shocked” how little Mayor Rob Rennie seemed to know about the specifics of the project, given how long it’s been in the works.
“I started this project three years ago; my son prior to that,” she said. “This is no surprise. I have two cones on either side of my driveway.”
A search of Google Maps confirms Justis indeed implemented this temporary safety measure; the navigation application shows there’s red paint on the curb sections behind the pylons.
“I have to back out, go around the curb, and hope to hell that two cars don’t hit me.”
That’s because there’s two lanes right in front of her unit, she noted.
“It’s not safe,” she said. “Today it was pouring down rain and the cars were just back and forth. And the sign says ’25 when children are present.’ Well, children are present at school or at the park. This is not a joke. The responsibility of the Town—and I’ve read it somewhere on your website—is the protection of the residents. This has been overlooked for a long time. We’ve been really pressing on this for some time.”
Justis told Council she appreciates the efforts of Nicolle Burnham, Los Gatos’ director of parks and public works, but says what’s planned isn’t enough.
“We’ve been trying not to make this heated,” she said. “But every time I back out I think, ‘Am I gonna get killed today?’”
Not long ago, a man was even killed right in front of her unit, which she attributes, in part, to the dual traffic lanes.
“We want it fixed,” she said. “It’s your responsibility. You’ve got solar on the schools and you’ve ruined Winchester with all those bollards—I’ve only seen one person ride their bike…I’m really disappointed in the decisions that are being made by this Town.”
On Dec. 1, Kristin Hutchinson, the president of Blossom Hill Elementary Home & School Club, urged Los Gatos to continue its traffic-calming projects.
“Both students and parents are impacted daily by the amount of traffic and lack of safety measures on Blossom Hill Road, and specifically for us, the intersection at Cherry Blossom Road,” she wrote in an email. “Taking the initial steps to make this area safer for our Los Gatos community and our Blossom Hill Elementary families is an absolute necessity, and we all thank you for your attention to these concerns.”
Council accepted the report and no further action was required.
