Santa Clara County Transportation Digest

A Los Altos shopping center on El Camino Real that was engulfed by a fire on Christmas Day just entered its first phase of demolition.

A project to connect Los Angeles and Las Vegas via electric high speed rail could break ground in early 2024, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced.

The numbers and letters on your car can reveal more than you think.

Cupertino is receiving more than $425,600 to increase safety on Bollinger Road through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All program.

With Super Bowl LX just a few years away from arriving at Levi’s Stadium and the FIFA World Cup quick on its heels, the Valley Transportation Agency has started planning the big events.

Sunnyvale is looking to fill accessibility gaps in existing public transit options for residents to travel around the city, and one ride-share service is taking center stage.

State Sen. Aisha Wahab, whose district covers Sunnyvale and Milpitas, has submitted a bill asking the California State Transportation Agency to create a plan that would consolidate the Bay Area’s 27 transit agencies.

The federal government dished out $88 million in grants to California school districts for electric buses, but San Jose schools lost out.

Seeking to accelerate Tesla’s plans to open its new engineering headquarters, the City Council approved a deal with the car giant to expedite an upgrade of a substation on Hanover Street.

Local leaders made it official just before the holidays, cutting the ribbon to celebrate the expansion of the SV Hopper service into South Santa Clara.

Caltrans has set a Jan. 25 deadline for tech companies to show how generative artificial intelligence might reduce traffic congestion in the state. This follows an executive order that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September related to this type of AI.

A five-year data analysis conducted by the Vision Zero Task Force, a San Jose traffic safety program, shows a sharp increase in homeless traffic fatalities from 2018 to 2022, with five deaths in 2018 that grew to a total of 51 by 2022.

Heavy snow is projected in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Previously, warmer storms had been bringing precipitation mainly to higher elevations in the Sierras.

Officials are encouraging lower-income Bay Area residents to apply for a pilot program that offers 50% discounted fares on local transit.

San Francisco police officers have been operating for more than a year with guidance from their chief that California’s vehicle code doesn’t provide authority for them to ticket driverless cars for infractions like speeding or running red lights. Officers are still encouraged to report relevant information about incidents.

While other travelers across the country have fallen victim to long check-ins, cancellations and delays amid winter weather, San Jose Mineta International Airport spokesperson Ana State said this year’s holiday travel season has been without any hitches.

This year, Milpitas banned natural gas in all new buildings, enhanced its rideshare program and looked for new ways to increase its housing. Looking ahead into the new year, the city has plans for a workplace housing project and an expansion to its Innovation Campus.

Farmland is being rezoned for industrial use, and massive warehouses are being built on spec near communities like Buttonwillow and Shafter, so goods coming through the Southern California ports can be shipped quickly throughout the western United States.

San Jose will use $12.9 million from the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program to add safety features to four transit corridors.

After establishing California Avenue as a permanent promenade, Palo Alto’s elected leaders are now shifting their focus toward revamping the city’s prime downtown artery: University Avenue.

A group of protesters sat down with interlocked arms on the 110 Freeway near downtown LA on Dec. 13, halting southbound traffic for more than an hour. Multiple people were arrested according to the CHP.

Higher-income workers are more likely to work from home, analysis of recent census data shows. Lower-income workers can face long and solitary commutes to get to work.

Three separate car crashes have taken place across Alma Street in less than a month, resulting in multiple injuries, damaged vehicles and temporary road closures.

Private company Brightline secured a $3 billion grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation toward a 218-mile high-speed rail line from Rancho Cucamonga to Las Vegas. The line would allow people to make the trip to Sin City in a little over two hours.

The bots are coming back to town, for the third time, in an updated pilot program that once again would allow automated delivery devices on the city’s sidewalks, crosswalks and possibly its bike lanes.

An Alameda County judge ruled on Nov. 22 that the city of Oakland thwarted a proposed coal export terminal. The judge will rule if the developer who sued is entitled to $159 million in damages or moving forward with the project.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles changed its voter registration process in 2019 to put a party selection dropdown on the same page. Since then, the number of people registering as Republicans or Democrats has jumped close to 20 points.

The future of transportation arrived in San Jose via a conference centered on automated, sustainable forms of public transit for the region and beyond.

The Orange County Transportation Authority announced that work has been completed for express lanes along 16 miles of Interstate 405. The lanes, which were part of a $2.16 billion improvement project, span from Costa Mesa to the Los Angeles County line.

Sunnyvale has greenlit a new vision for the future of the Lawrence Caltrain station that will make it more convenient for residents and workers along the transit corridor.

As Palo Alto looks ahead to its next phase of bike improvements, city officials are also bracing for a bike project that they had never signed up for: the creation of an El Camino Real bikeway.

California's high-speed rail system may be more than a decade away from construction, but the beleaguered project is casting a growing shadow over Palo Alto's plans to separate its streets from its rail tracks.