San Jose Makes Saint James Street More Dangerous

Construction on San Jose's huge North San Pedro plan is well underway. It removes a one-way, four-lane S-curve segment of Julian Street just east of Highway 87 and restores several blocks of the city’s original street grid.

Removing that nasty S-curve and replacing it with a grid is good, but much of the North San Pedro plan still screams "car traffic first."

For example, the largest intersections along the new Saint James Street don’t even have all four crosswalks and sidewalk curb radii have been enlarged, exposing pedestrians to greater danger from higher-speed automobile traffic than before the street’s reconstruction. At Market Street, no crosswalk is included on the intersection's north side, and three of the intersection's corners are being enlarged with greater curb radii. Crosswalks are also missing on the west side of the intersections at Terraine Street and the Highway 87 interchange. [PDF]

The $25 million street reconstruction project aims to create space for new housing and office developments within walking distance of the city's entire downtown core, complete with reconstructed sidewalks, new street lights and street trees, and a one-block linear park on San Pedro Street north of Julian. Nearly 1,500 housing units will be constructed there.

Additionally, there are no bike lanes on any of the reconstructed streets. Planners say there's no space--even though most of the streets will retain a curb-to-curb width of 40 feet, with parallel parking on both sides. Saint James Street is widened from two to four lanes west of Market Street and then to six lanes on the final block approaching Highway 87. In addition to widening Saint James Street, a fourth lane will be added to northbound Notre Dame by removing parallel parking spaces there. 

Expect bicycling westbound on Saint James Street through the Highway 87 interchange to become even more hazardous than it was on the Julian Street S-curve. The old design required bicyclists to merge two lanes to the left on the S-curve segment to avoid the double right-turn--lanes that become on-ramps onto Highway 87 southbound. The new design requires bicyclists to merge into the left-most of three lanes in the block before Highway 87, because the right two lanes feed onto the highway.

That said, San Jose isn't planning markings or signs to guide bicyclists through the city's labyrinthine and hazardous highway interchange design. City officials recommend that bicyclists take a circuitous multi-block detour to the south on Saint John Street and Almaden Boulevard that crosses under Highway 87--a route which also has no markings or signs to help bicyclists find it.

City officials say designs were drawn up and finalized years before the San Jose's General Plan (2012), Complete Streets Policy (2015), and Vision Zero Plan (2015) were adopted to more explicitly prioritize bike and pedestrian safety. The outdated North San Pedro Plan street designs were never reviewed to ensure they meet current city policies and design standards before construction began. With real estate development projects dependent on San Jose's street reconstruction schedule, city officials are reluctant to modify street designs that have already been approved.

San Jose staff are considering whether modifications can be made before construction is finished in early 2017.