Santa Clara County Transportation Digest

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.

A new study by Forbes shows that four cities in the Golden State—Los Angeles, Fresno, San Diego and Sacramento—are among the 21 worst cities in the United States for holiday travel. Forbes looked at a variety of factors including car accidents, hotel prices and air travel.

VTA has just made a $76 million purchase to help bring BART to Santa Clara.

Pavements conditions are just "fair" on the Bay Area's roadways, according to an annual report card from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Interstate 10 in Los Angeles will reopen Nov. 21, following a fire on Nov. 11. It had previously been feared the freeway would be closed much longer.

After years of worsening potholes and bumpy rides, plans are in place to repave El Camino Real from Mountain View through Palo Alto starting in May or June of 2024, Caltrans officials announced at a public meeting in Mountain View.

The new University Avenue pedestrian and bike overcrossing will link the east and west sides of East Palo Alto, which the highway has split for decades.

As state laws redefine minimal parking requirements, a commercial development in downtown Mountain View is proposing to nix its on-site parking plans, instead offering to pitch in $8 million for a city-owned parking structure.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority said it authorized the purchase of the transit tunnel boring machine to complete the 5-mile underground section of the VTA BART Silicon Valley extension.

Palo Alto City Council voted to permanently close California Avenue to cars.

The closure of California Avenue to traffic has sparked debate among business owners and residents, and now city staff is proposing to keep it closed for at least another year while a firm develops alternatives for its future.

In a bid to reach its sustainability and decarbonization goals, Mountain View is working on a transportation ordinance aimed at reducing drive-alone trips and parking demand in the city.

China modeled some of its climate programs on policies first adopted by California. Now, California depends on the world’s most populous country for essential materials in its electric vehicle ambitions.

One of San Jose’s most dangerous streets will be getting new safety features to protect children going to school.

The rapidly rising cost of construction materials and labor prices, along with the impacts of inflation, have boosted the anticipated cost of the final phase of VTA’s BART to Silicon Valley completion from $9.3 billion to $12.2 billion.

When Stanford University received permission in 2011 to construct of new hospitals and medical buildings, it pledged to steer its workers away from cars and toward buses, trains and shuttles—but the pandemic has disrupted these plans.

San Jose could hand out more speeding tickets next year thanks to Assembly Bill 645, which legalizes the state’s use of surveillance cameras in school zones and “safety corridors” to catch speeding drivers for a five-year pilot program.

Beginning next year, VTA will have the ability under state law to ban troublesome passengers who attack frontline transit employees. But there's a catch—the transit agency won’t actually be able to wield that authority until it completes a series of critical steps.

Caltrain will be suspending its service between San Francisco and Millbrae stations the weekends of Oct. 7 and Oct. 14 to give way to the rail line's electrification project.

After a monthslong debate between local leaders, San Jose is set to receive 200 temporary housing units for homeless residents in North San Jose—with help from the local transit agency and the state.

Caltrain’s board declared an emergency to fast-track the repair but couldn’t get the permits between June 15 and Oct. 15, when construction is allowed in the creek, according to Rob Barnard, Caltrain’s deputy chief of design and construction.

Eager to take advantage of new federal and state grants, Palo Alto is preparing to speed up its tortuous, decade-long effort to choose preferred alternatives for redesigning three rail crossings.

Milpitas has an exclusive rideshare service much cheaper than Uber for locals to get around town—but not many people know about it. The Simple Mobile Access to Reliable Transit (SMART) program is a city rideshare service with a fleet of six vehicles.

Hydrogen fueling stations will get 15 percent of funds in a state program — even though Californians own only about 12,000 hydrogen cars. The funds come from fees paid by drivers.

Palo Alto’s effort to redesign its rail corridor got a boost when the city received more than $30 million in grants—a gift that could add some urgency to the complex project.

Caltrain will test an electric train that can charge its battery when running on tracks with overhead power and then use that battery power in non-electrified stretches, the transit agency's leaders announced.

With only 12,000 hydrogen cars on the road, and just two models for sale, California lawmakers are debating how much state money should support them.

A lawsuit seeking class-action status on behalf of three owners of Tesla vehicles in California alleges the company grossly overvalued how far the cars could travel on a single battery charge.

Individuals with overdue payments from toll violations on Bay Area bridges can now take advantage of new programs designed to make paying off late fees easier, said the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

The Valley Transportation Agency has released plans to help support Santa Clara and San Jose small businesses during the construction of the Silicon Valley BART extension project.

A battle is brewing over the future of self-driving trucks in California, and local tech companies are keeping a close watch on Sacramento as it weighs major changes to the industry.

As part of a new “Safe Streets for All” plan, Palo Alto is preparing to improve dangerous corridors. County data suggests Crescent Drive, Middlefield Road and El Camino Real could get attention.