Pedestrians along expressways: Board of Supervisors (BOS) policies and
orders,
with violations shown in red.
Akos Szoboszlay, President, Modern
Transit Society
October, 2006; updated May 2007.
Quotes, numbered 1 through 9, of
violated Board of Supervisors (BOS) policies and orders, with links to scans of
original documents and with violations
shown in red, are as follows:
1. 1991
Board Action: Ordered staff to create pedestrian paths on all expressways:
ÒApprove the proposed new program
to provide pedestrian pathway
facilities along the expressway system
at the annual level of $75,000.Ó
[See Quote 1 from attached page 1 of August 20,
1991 Board action] [for other pages, see bottom]
County highway staff
stonewalled on compliance for 15 years, as shown by the fact that most
expressway sections do not have paths or sidewalks. (Most have wide shoulders, which are
safe for bicyclists and pedestrians and are an interim solution). Paths are
most urgently needed where highway staff force people to walk in traffic lanes,
after highway staff changed shoulders into traffic lanes. See links documenting violations, listed by
roadway, in the Pedestrian Safety section of the Expressway Topics, Links page.
Dangers are inexpensively eliminated by compliance with Board policies.
Montague Expressway photos; Left: Woman is forced to walk in the right-turn lane,
after traffic lanes were added in 2002. New curb was placed, but no path or
sidewalk. Location is just west of the Montague Expressway Light Rail Station. Center:
Man is forced to walk in the traffic lane
of Montague after shoulders were eliminated. Notice the former shoulder line, a
remnant from 2002. Location is east of light rail. Right: Youth, walking to Great Mall, walks in the
acceleration lane which previously was the shoulder. There is no alternative to
Montague, formerly
named Landess Avenue, due to the hierarchical
street patterns.
Photo (right): Pedestrian is walking in the acceleration lane on Montague near Houret Drive, but is not visible in the night photo. Most transit patrons leaving work in winter walk in the dark. See more photos of violations on Montague.
2. Staff report for that Board Action, approved by the
Board on 8/20/91, states:
ÒIt will take several years [from
1991] to remove all obstacles
[basically, Òcut back brushÓ] in the
buffer area [between curb and property-line] from the entire expressway system.Ó
[See Quote
2 from attached page 3.] [for other pages, see bottom]
The Board order should
have been completed over ten years ago! Paths are very inexpensive. Most labor
is provided free by the Òjail crew.Ó
3. 1991 Board Policy: ÒIt is the [Board approved] Policy ... to
encourage cities to repeal pedestrian prohibition ordinances, except where ... the ... area (between the curb and property
line) is impeded by obstacles.Ó [See
Quote 3 from attached page 2 of 1991 policy;
for other pages, see bottom.]
County highway staff
contradicted this policy because no obstacles exist at many blocks where staff
not only didnÕt support repeal, Murdter actually opposed repeal in Santa Clara
even where the paths exist (see details in section below). See next photos.
Left photo: San Tomas from Monroe to Cabrillo (west side).
Center photo: Cabrillo to El Camino (east side, 1/2 mile path
was created in June in one day at MTSÕ request.)
Right photo: Typical prohibited path, Williams to just before
Winchester.
San Tomas description: There is 12 feet (typically) between the curb and the property-line
fence in Santa Clara. Paths exist at many blocks but are prohibited in addition
to banning shoulder use. Details, detour maps, links, etc. are at: moderntransit.org/st
4. The
2003 Board Policy, usually called the County Expressway Master Plan and formally titled Comprehensive County
Expressway Planning Study Implementation Plan, added shoulder use:
Ò[Wide] shoulder or path facilities can serve ...
for occasional pedestrian use.Ó [See
scan of paragraph from page 93 either on a web page – click for web page format – or a succinct printable page – download 900 KB pdf
file of quotes 4 and 5 scans.]
Murdter falsely stated: ÒWhere [pedestrians] are required to
walk on the shoulder ... then Board policy supports the prohibition on that segment
of the expressway.Ó You can hear (via Quicktime link) that verbal statement,
and hear and/or read more Murdter's false statements, from this web page.
5. The pedestrian-expressway maps in the County Expressway Master Plan contain this quote in the map legends:
ÒWide shoulder or pathÓ
followed by the color gray. [See
scanned map legend of the main pedestrian-expressway map on a web page – click for map legend and main map on
page 90 – or a succinct
printable page showing the same map legend with the San Tomas Expressway
example – download
900 KB pdf file of quotes 4 and 5 scans]. [Downloading instructions for all pedestrian-expressway maps.]
County highway staff
repeatedly ignored these maps with regard to the wide shoulders and paths, by
only pointing out sidewalk facilities while ignoring path and wide shoulder
facilities.
6. Board ordered staff (on 1/10/06) to seek repeal of
SB 1233 that eliminated the right of bicyclists and
pedestrian to use public roadways. County
staff misleadingly called this Expressway Signage Law in Quote 6 and Quote 6b, but
it is actually very damaging as described in our SB 1233 short article
and full article.
Also see the annotated Vehicle Code 21960 showing changes and effects on non-motorists.
The County would not be
able to prohibit if repeal occurs. Yet, Murdter and Collen ignored this BOS
order by citing SB 1233 law changes when they stated that the County will enact
new pedestrian prohibitions in 2007 — despite the fact that the BOS
ordered the law repealed. [To
read MurdterÕs statement, see MurdterÕs letter to the City Council, which is two pages as a 2.3 MB pdf file]
7. Both the 1991 and the 2003 policy require creating
pedestrian paths at intersection areas. The better-worded 2003 policy also opposes walking in
the traffic lane, and states:
"Landscaping needs to be
kept trimmed back at intersection areas and along the travel way so pedestrians
do not have to enter the travel lane." [page 93, County Expressway Master Plan]
County highway staff
stonewalled for 15 years on compliance! [see photo examples]
Note: Quote 7 needs to have the highest
compliance priority
due to a higher accident risk [see details
with graphics] at intersection areas, especially where shoulders were
eliminated and people are forced
to walk in traffic lanes, acceleration lanes, and where motor vehicles make a
right-turn on red or yield..
8. ÒExpressway crossings of barriers (freeways, rivers,
and railroads): A sidewalk/path on at least one side of the expressway will be provided to the adjacent
public street intersection in both directions from the barrier.Ó [1991 policy page 2]
Quote
#1 requires shrubbery trimming for paths, but bridges and undercrossigns do not
have landscaping. Therefore, this quote covers these situations.
In 2002, County highway staff changed the pedestrian (shoulder)
facilities on Montague near Freeway 880 into a traffic lane, despite the fact that sidewalks, built
by Caltrans, exist on both sides of Montague crossing over the freeway. Staff
is required to build a sidewalk or path
at this freeway crossing Òto the É street intersection.Ó Instead, they eliminated the pedestrian facility, the shoulder, which was 8 to 10
feet wide. This act is a violation of quotes # 7, 8, 1 and 2. [See photos,
map and details of this location.]
Photo: Pedestrians must step from
the sidewalk, built by Caltrans, into the traffic lane, after County highway
engineers eliminated the pedestrian facility – the shoulder – in
2002. The sidewalk ends where the roadway becomes County owned. [See more
photos, map and details of this location.]
9. ÒIt is the policy É to not eliminate existing
sidewalks/pathways/informal paths.Ó
[1991 policy page 3]
In 2005, on the
Montague bridge crossing over Guadalupe River, County highway staff destroyed
the sidewalk.
In 2007, over two miles
of pedestrian paths along San Tomas were plowed under, eliminating this
walking/jogging facility. See the before-and-after
photos. Also see the ÒbeforeÓ photos with
crosswalks.
Other policy
violations: The above policies and orders are just those of the
County Board of Supervisors (BOS). See the State and Federal violations by Murdter and the County Roads Department at this link.
Vehicle Code 21966
and Vehicle Code 21949
are also violated.
MurdterÕs letter and speech to City Council
contradicted Board (BOS) policies #1, #3, #4 and #5 (quoted above)
Michael Murdter, Director of
County Roads department, came to the City Council of Santa Clara meeting and
opposed repeal of the pedestrian prohibition (on 6/20/06). Murdter opposed
allowing use of wide shoulders, thus contradicting the 2003 policy [Quote 4].
Murdter opposed allowing use of existing pedestrian paths, thus contradicting
the order to create paths [Quote 1] and to encourage repeal of prohibitions
[Quote 3]. Murdter opposed and contradicted BOS policies in his letter to the
City Council [next link], and ignored the San Tomas pedestrian-expressway map
[Quote 5]. The Council vote was 4 to 3 to keep the prohibitions (for now).
The annotated version of MurdterÕs letter to the City Council [two pages, 2.3 MB pdf file] shows MurdterÕs
false and misleading statements in red. You can also hear audio clips (QuickTime) of MurdterÕs and CollenÕs
spoken false and misleading verbal statements. Many can be used against bicyclists, especially City
staff verbally citing County staffÕs Ò60% fatalities caused by roadway
departuresÓ. The source of their claim (only recently given)
was actually motorist fatalities, not pedestrian fatalities. Murdter, Collen and City staff talked for
an hour about how dangerous
expressway wide shoulders are [8 to 10 feet wide, south of El Camino], equated
them to freeway shoulders (and showed 3 photos of freeway shoulders), and
stated much other nonsense. Advocates for non-motorized transport were given just
3 minutes each to rebut that,
which was impossible. The same scare tactics were used to fight against
bicyclists (until 1991) by County highway staff and the City staff, and may yet
be used again.
Photos: Pedestrians
paths are inexpensively and quickly built – half a mile per day –
as shown by this path [center] created by trimming brush [left] on San Tomas
for an entire block (Cabrillo to El Camino) by maintenance staff [County Road
Operations Branch]. Path is even wider than path used by Caltrain patrons [right]
along 40 mph De La Cruz bridge in Santa Clara.
Attempts to make the Expressway Master PlanÕs Pedestrian Element to be anti-pedestrian
Murdter has been trying to change
the Pedestrian Element of the County Expressway Master Plan to be
anti-pedestrian by banning shoulder use, no matter how wide. Murdter failed at
the VTA/Countywide Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) in 2005, by a
unanimous vote. [See vote details.]
Murdter also lost a related vote at the BPAC and the County Board of
Supervisors (BOS), when County highway staff tried to prevent repeal of SB 1233
(which secretly eliminated the right of
bicyclists and pedestrians to use public roadways).
But Murdter (and other County
highway staff) will try again. Murdter stated in his letter to the City Council
of Santa Clara that he will ÒupdateÓ the County Expressway Master Plan in 2007. To date, probably more staff time has been
spent fight against compliance with Board policies, and trying to change those
policies, rather than simply complying with those policies. This is especially
so when considering that over 90% of the labor to create paths is provided free
by the Òjail crew.Ó It is imperative, for both pedestrian safety and for efficiency of walking and transit use
in hierarchical street pattern areas – thatÕs where expressways are
located – that pedestrian-expressway policies and orders of the Board
of Supervisors be retained. County
highway staff will try to change that in 2007, with the ÒupdateÓ to the County Expressway Master Plan.
More information and links
For more information about
expressways in general, see the Expressway Topics, Links page and/or contact Akos Szoboszlay, President,
Modern Transit Society.
For historical information about how the Board order and policy came about in 1991, see the Mercury News Op-Ed article and the originating 1991 MTS letter to the BOS containing requests, most of which were implemented.
Links to all
pages of 1991 BOS action (8/20/91) and 1991 policy:
The scanned pages are: Action / staff report [page 1], [page 2], [page 3];
and the attached 1991 Policy [page 1], [page 2], [page 3].
Printing instructions: how to
print above quotes onto one page:
See and print the single page
(abridged) version, a pdf file;
Printing instructions: how to
print quotes with original document pages:
A two-page-plus-attachments
version, needed for official purposes, such as for a Committee, Board or
Council, where use of links are discouraged. Here are instructions for printing
these:
Print
the summary
two-pages of Quotes and print and append the scans of documents. [Note that
Quotes 4 and 5 are on the same page. Scanned Quote 7 is from the same scan as
Quote 4. Scanned Quote 8 is from the same scan as Quote 3. Scanned Quote 9 is
an additional page. To print all pages of the 1991 BOS order and 1991 Policy,
see bottom.]
Original file = quote.doc