San Jose Eyes Local Control Of Key State Highways
SAN JOSE (KCBS) - The San Jose City Council is expected to approve plans to take over two key state routes from Caltrans, including The Alameda.
According to San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, the city has wanted to do this for years and having local control of The Alameda - part of State Route 82 through downtown San Jose - would make a big difference.
KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:
"We would like to reconfigure the street to make it more pedestrian friendly, to allow landscaping and some median islands," Reed said.
He added that there's a series of improvements the city would like to do that don't meet the standard Caltrans specifications of what you can do for a state highway and that it's taken a while to get to this point.
"It takes a lot of negotiation and state legislation to make it happen," Reed added.
The other street that the city would take over under this proposal is a portion of Alum Rock Avenue also known as State Route 130.
The transfers would come with $12 million in federal funds to maintain the roadways.
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