San Tomas Expressway at Hamilton is congested
By Susan Wiedmann
The intersection of San Tomas Expressway at Hamilton Avenue in Campbell continues to have unacceptable traffic congestion, according to the recently released "2001 Monitoring and Conformance Report" by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).
The intersection is one of eight in the county that have been monitored by the VTA since 1991. That year the state of California began to require all congestion management agencies (CMAs), such as the VTA, to submit an annual report on surface road and freeway traffic congestion in their major metropolitan areas.
However, the VTA report is not meant to find congestion solutions in Campbell or elsewhere.
"That report is done to establish baseline information," said John Pilger, a spokesman for the VTA. "It's not necessarily that VTA or anybody else does anything specifically [about] it."
The information is nonetheless invaluable to the county, city planners and various city organizations. For instance, if Campbell wants to consider a building project from a developer, the city can use the report's local and freeway traffic findings to help determine if the proposed project will have an impact on existing traffic in a given neighborhood.
Traffic monitoring for the current report was conducted by the VTA in the fall of 2001. In Campbell, actual traffic counters were used during the morning and late afternoon commute hours at the San Tomas Expressway/Hamilton Avenue intersection. Pilger said that if an accident threatened to skew a day's figures, the information from that day was discarded and a recount was done later on.
Campbell Traffic Engineer Matthew Jue explained that analysis software, used by all CMAs, was utilized to analyze the intersection's counts to determine the average delays for vehicles at the location. The software then compared those figures to a table of CMA traffic thresholds. Finally, an appropriate CMA Level of Service (LOS) grade, ranging from A to F, was assigned to the intersection. It should be noted that LOS grades are not meant to signify a passing or failing situation.
Lupe Solis, another spokesperson for the VTA, said that a grade of A, B or C means that traffic moves relatively freely, without significant delays. A grade of D means delays become more noticeable, and an E means traffic volumes are at or close to capacity, resulting in significant delays and average speeds no more than about one-third the uncongested speed. A grade of F means that traffic demand exceeds available capacity, with very slow, stop-and-go speeds, long delays of more than one minute, and standing queues at intersections with traffic signals.
The San Tomas Expressway/Hamilton Avenue intersection received a grade of F for 2001, as has been the case every year since 1997. Between 1991 and 1996, it received a grade of E.
Pilger observed that the report shows approximately 32 percent less overall congestion than in the previous year, although the economic downturn is widely attributed to lighter traffic during commuting hours. The biggest improvement in county traffic, he said, has been in the "gateway routes"--the highways that lead into Santa Clara County, such as Highway 17, which runs through Campbell.
The seven other Santa Clara County intersections included in the report were Foothill Expressway at El Monte Avenue, Central Expressway at Bowers Avenue, Central Expressway at Lafayette Street, Central Expressway at De La Cruz Boulevard, San Tomas Expressway at Saratoga Avenue and Lawrence Expressway at both Arques and Reed avenues.
Campbell, California
