Bridge across 85?

[Eric Armstrong]

I'm sure this prospect has been given some thought. 
I'm curious to know what the thinking has been.

I'm north of El Camino on the Sunnyvale side of 85.
Frankly, I get to Sunnyvale center more often than
Mountain View destinations, mostly because of the
difficulty of crossing Rt 85.

The options are limited:

1.  Evelyn has a nice 237 underpass and an 85 underpass, but
   getting to the Stevens Creek trail is dicey, across 2 lanes of traffic,
   which may have just come off the freeway or which may be going
   at speed, in any case. (This is the best option for crossing, but is
   often pretty far out of the way for the destination I'm headed to.)
   
   
2. I can cross at Dana. It's steep but short going towards MV center,
   but steep and long--and steepest at the top--coming the other way.
   Then I'm barreling down the other side with a cross street right at
   the bottom. (I just came back after a 3-hr ride to Palo Alto. It was
   the most direct route, and I was tired. But, man! It wore me out.),
   
   
3. I can cross at El Camino, but I get to play with freeway traffic
   no less than 3 times to do that.
   
   
4. I can cross El Camino and go South to the Dale Ave. pedestrian
   bridge, but then I fight with the hairpin turn to get onto the
   bridge, compounded by the road-narrowing obstructions that
   put me in conflict with vehicles.

I use one of those less than stellar alternatives when I need to go in
that direction. But given a choice, I generally head in the direction of
Sunnyvale.

Riding across the Dana St. bridge, I saw just how wide the Rt. 85
freeway really is. I can't even imagine the expense of bridging it.

But the only good alternative I see is to consider Rt. 85 an "unnatural
divider", and cede that part of Mountain View to Sunnyvale!
:__)

eric
Breathe. Activate. Meditate. Connect.

Eric Armstrong MeditateBetter.com, Bench Yoga book Meditation & Internal Energy articles Blog: Medium.com Instagram: MeditateBetter, Facebook: BetterMeditation

Yoga Meditation Bench for meditative yoga & "Instant Alignment" 

[Kevin Wang]

On Thu, Jul 14, 2022 at 1:33 AM Eric Armstrong <er...@meditatebetter.com> wrote:

I'm sure this prospect has been given some thought. 
I'm curious to know what the thinking has been.

I'm north of El Camino on the Sunnyvale side of 85.
Frankly, I get to Sunnyvale center more often than
Mountain View destinations, mostly because of the
difficulty of crossing Rt 85.

The options are limited:

1.  Evelyn has a nice 237 underpass and an 85 underpass, but
   getting to the Stevens Creek trail is dicey, across 2 lanes of traffic,
   which may have just come off the freeway or which may be going
   at speed, in any case. (This is the best option for crossing, but is
   often pretty far out of the way for the destination I'm headed to.)
   

Back when I regularly commuted up Evelyn and turned left to get onto the trail, I usually did this: merge into the left most car lane, but keep rolling forward at 15 mph until the opposing traffic lanes cleared. then I'd make a U-turn. yes, sometimes I'd travel 50 yards before I could u-turn, but stopping in the middle of the lane didn't seem like a good idea given how close it was to the intersection.

Sometimes I'd get into the left turn lane, then turn left and at the corner go 50 ft up the sidewalk to get to the trail.

1. 
   
2. I can cross at Dana. It's steep but short going towards MV center,
   but steep and long--and steepest at the top--coming the other way.
   Then I'm barreling down the other side with a cross street right at
   the bottom. (I just came back after a 3-hr ride to Palo Alto. It was
   the most direct route, and I was tired. But, man! It wore me out.),
   
   
3. I can cross at El Camino, but I get to play with freeway traffic
   no less than 3 times to do that.
   
   
4. I can cross El Camino and go South to the Dale Ave. pedestrian
   bridge, but then I fight with the hairpin turn to get onto the
   bridge, compounded by the road-narrowing obstructions that
   put me in conflict with vehicles.

If you're north of central, you can get under 85 at Central as well, but this is an uncommon route. but imho it's still better than el camino. It may become more common if the Castro St x Central undercrossing gets built. Central is stupidly fast, but it's ok during rush hour; cars can only manage 35 MPH!

further north, there's middlefield road and moffett

 

I use one of those less than stellar alternatives when I need to go in
that direction. But given a choice, I generally head in the direction of
Sunnyvale.

Riding across the Dana St. bridge, I saw just how wide the Rt. 85
freeway really is. I can't even imagine the expense of bridging it.

tbh, I'd first rather see the stevens creek trail bridges get rebuilt and replace the (slippery when wet) wood planks. THOSE hairpins are terrifying in the winter. A lot of people slip and crash on them in the winter. Plus when I commuted up, I carried a screwdriver and kept screwing loose screws back down, and filed a ticket when I couldn't (sometimes the screws needed vice grips to remove and replace with a new screw).

The subject says "bridge across 85". Did you mean under or over?  Over in some places is a nonstarter, unless you really really like climbing (I don't).

Also, a major difficulty is building a bridge or tunnel to cross 85 is WHERE to put it that has connectivity to not-private land.

   - Kevin

[isaac stone]

I have thought about this a lot, because of the kids in sylvan park who are set to go to school in landels elementary. Biking is essentially not an option. Some walk, most are driven.

Dana st bridge could be improved. the intersection with Moorpark was upgraded recently but i don't think there are other improvements planned.

Road diet on Evelyn seems viable but we'd need convince the traffic engineers. Also less than ideal for sylvan park kids, a lot of the density is near El Camino

best option would be a 85 underpass connecting Alice or Moorpark with the trail.

the proposed protected lanes on El Camino are not enough at the 85 interchange to make it safe for "all ages and abilities"

I suggest underpass because going under is less of a slope. You only go down enough for a bicycle to pass (8ft?). Going over highway requires 16 foot clearance.

On Thu, Jul 14, 2022 at 1:33 AM Eric Armstrong <er...@meditatebetter.com> wrote:

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[Eric Armstrong]

YES. That IS the answer.

I live in "Far East Mountain View Island".
It's not totally disconnected, but it comes close.

I had to get a multi-speed version of my bike, mostly
to negotiate freeway and train overpasses.

So I love this resource. How do we get some??

:__)

eric
Breathe. Activate. Meditate. Connect.

Eric Armstrong MeditateBetter.com, Bench Yoga book Meditation & Internal Energy articles Blog: Medium.com Instagram: MeditateBetter, Facebook: BetterMeditation

Yoga Meditation Bench for meditative yoga & "Instant Alignment" 

On 7/18/2022 10:26:13 AM, Hicks, Alison <alison...@mountainview.gov> wrote:

Maybe this is the answer: U.S. to Provide $1 Billion to Reconnect Neighborhoods Divided by Highways, Rail (usnews.com).

 

Alison

 

From: Kevin Wang <k...@leftsock.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:18 PM
To: Eric Armstrong <er...@meditatebetter.com>
Cc: Whyte, Brandon <Brando...@mountainview.gov>; Hicks, Alison <Alison...@mountainview.gov>; SVBC Mountain View Team <mounta...@bikesiliconvalley.org>
Subject: Re: [SVBC Mountain View] Bridge across 85?

 

CAUTION: EXTERNAL EMAIL - Ensure you trust this email before clicking on any links or attachments.

 

[Eric Armstrong]

Awesome, Brandon.
And thanks!!

:__)

eric
Breathe. Activate. Meditate. Connect.

Eric Armstrong MeditateBetter.com, Bench Yoga book Meditation & Internal Energy articles Blog: Medium.com Instagram: MeditateBetter, Facebook: BetterMeditation

Yoga Meditation Bench for meditative yoga & "Instant Alignment" 

On 7/25/2022 6:04:17 PM, Whyte, Brandon <brando...@mountainview.gov> wrote:

All,

 

I have saved this email chain to our Active Transportation Plan folder; it will be considered in our upcoming planning process (which starts in August internally).

 

This is great information, and we’ll need more input like this as we progress through the process. Most federal and state grants require a project to be in a plan first.

 

So please stay tuned for my emails and MyMV messages about the Active Transportation Plan in Mountain View. If you’d like to be added to our notification list, please email me back indicating so.

 

Thanks, everyone!

 

Brandon Whyte Active Transportation Planner Public Works Department 650-903-6311 | MountainView.gov Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | AskMV

 

 

From: Eric Armstrong <er...@meditatebetter.com>
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2022 4:05 PM
To: Hicks, Alison <Alison...@mountainview.gov>; Kevin Wang <k...@leftsock.com>
Cc: Whyte, Brandon <Brando...@mountainview.gov>; SVBC Mountain View Team <mounta...@bikesiliconvalley.org>
Subject: RE: [SVBC Mountain View] Bridge across 85?

 

CAUTION: EXTERNAL EMAIL - Ensure you trust this email before clicking on any links or attachments.

 

YES. That IS the answer.

I live in "Far East Mountain View Island".
It's not totally disconnected, but it comes close.

I had to get a multi-speed version of my bike, mostly
to negotiate freeway and train overpasses.

 

So I love this resource. How do we get some??
:__)

 

eric
Breathe. Activate. Meditate. Connect.