Rose Garden Resident

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880 onramp to remain closed until month's end

Caltrans working on more drainage problems at loop

By Mary Gottschalk

The closure of the southbound onramp onto Interstate 880 from the northbound lane of The Alameda is now scheduled to remain in effect until Aug. 31.

Caltrans, which closed the onramp with no advance warning on June 12, had said it would reopen by July 31. The closure was to deal with excessive groundwater in the area, which was undermining the freeway, Caltrans officials said.

"We've completed the work we set out to do," says Brigetta Smith, public information officer for Caltrans. "We've repaired the three lanes of freeway that were sinking. We built a new underdrain under the lanes, and now we're extending the underdrain into the loop area. If we left it like it is now, we'd have more problems in the future."

The closure of the onramp has increased the number of illegal U-turns along The Alameda. Motorists are regularly turning, ignoring the temporary "No U Turn" sign erected in the center traffic island, making the turn around the back of it.

Nearby residents remain displeased with what they call Caltrans' lack of respect and response for their neighborhood.

"They have shown a total disregard for the neighborhood, and they don't return phone calls," says Bruce Townsend, a Newhall resident. He points out that when The Alameda overpass was closed overnight and traffic was detoured onto Newhall, residents weren't told about it until the day before.

Initially, Caltrans posted signs detouring traffic along Newhall Street, which is just two lanes.

After intervention from San Jose City Councilman Ken Yeager's office, Caltrans changed the detour route to Hedding Street, which is four lanes.

Townsend says things are better.

He praises Ray Salvano, senior civil engineer for the city of San Jose Department of Transportation and Santa Clara City Councilwoman Jamie McLeod.