BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 1670
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: beall
VERSION: 4/5/10
Analysis by: Art Bauer FISCAL: Yes
Hearing date: June 29, 2010
SUBJECT:
State highway relinquishment
DESCRIPTION:
This bill authorizes the California Transportation Commission
(CTC) to relinquish segments of State Route (SR) 82 and SR 130
in the City of San Jose.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
Identifies the California state highway system through a
description of segments of the state's regional and
interregional roads that are owned and operated by the
Department of Transportation (Caltrans).
Defines a "state highway" as any roadway that is
acquired, laid out, constructed, improved, or maintained as
a state highway according to legislative authorization.
Specifies that it is the intent of the Legislature for
the routes of the state highway system to connect the
communities and regions of the state and that they serve
the state's economy by connecting centers of commerce,
industry, agriculture, mineral wealth, and recreation.
Provides that any expansion or deletion of the state
highway system occurs through a statutory process requiring
the CTC to make findings that it is in the best interest of
the state to include or delete a specified portion of
roadway from the system.
AB 1670 (BEALL) Page 2
This bill :
1. Authorizes the CTC to relinquish to the City of San Jose
a ten mile segment of SR 82, locally know as the Monterey
Highway, from Blossom Hill Road to I-880, and a 2.5 mile
segment of SR 130, locally known as Alum Rock Boulevard,
from the city limits to SR 101, both of which are located
in the city, upon terms and conditions the CTC finds to be
in the best interest of the state.
2. Requires the San Jose to provide signage directing
motorist to the continuation of SR 82 and SR 130.
3. Provides that the relinquishments will become effective
immediately following the county recordation of the
relinquishment resolutions containing the CTC's approval of
the specified terms and conditions.
4. Specifies that following the effective date of
relinquishment, the relinquished segment will no longer be
a state highway and may not be considered for future
adoption as a state highway.
COMMENTS:
1) Purpose . The purpose of this bill according to the
sponsor is to allow San Jose to have greater control over
the design and use of the streets currently designated as
state highways. San Jose's goals include "improving the
pedestrian environment, implementing multi-modal
objectives, and modifying local circulations patterns by
reducing the amount of right-of-way previously developed to
auto-centric standards." Among the multimodal objectives
that the city intends to implement in the corridor are bus
rapid transit and bicycle and pedestrian facilities.
2) High-speed rail an option for part of SR 82 . Of the ten
miles of SR 82, being proposed for relinquishment to San
Jose, two miles may be used by the High-Speed Rail
Authority (HSRA) as a possible alignment into the Diridon
Station near downtown San Jose. The city public works
department staff indicates that there is adequate
right-of-way to accommodate the proposed improvements to
the roadway and the high-speed trains. The HSRA is in the
process of preparing an environmental document for the
corridor from Merced to San Jose. Several alternatives are
AB 1670 (BEALL) Page 3
identified in documents on the HSRA's website for this
particular corridor. It appears that the segment of SR 82
from near Bernal Road in south San Jose to the vicinity of
Capitol Expressway is being considered as an alignment for
the high-speed train service. Since neither the state nor
federal environmental documents have been adopted by the
HSRA, it is unclear exactly how the alignment of SR 82 will
be harmonized with the high-speed rail alignment through
that segment of the SR 82 corridor.
3) Typical relinquishment language missing . Usually
relinquishment bills contain a provision that a city
or county assuming responsibility for a former segment
of a state highway must ensure the continuity of
traffic flow on the relinquished portion of state.
Earlier this year the committed approved SB 993
(Huff), authorizing the relinquishment of SR 66 in the
City Claremont, and that will included such language
on continuity of traffic flow.
The committee may wish to amend the bill to include the
following language which was in other relinquishment bills
approved by this committee: "The city shall ensure the
continuity of traffic flow on the relinquished portion of
State Route 82 and State Route 130, including any traffic
signal progression."
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 77-0
Appr: 17-0
Trans: 14-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 23, 2010)
SUPPORT: City of San Jose (sponsor)
Pierluigi Oliverio, Councilmember, City of San
Jose
Alum Rock Village Business Association
Bellarmine College Preparatory
Builders Exchange of Santa Clara County
Downtown College Prep
Fiesta Lanes Action Group of San Jose
AB 1670 (BEALL) Page 4
Independent Construction Estimators
Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network
Piazza Family LP
Rose Garden Neighborhood Preservation Association
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
Shasta/Hanchett Park Neighborhood Association
Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition
The Alameda Business Association
OPPOSED: None Received.