Bicyclist with $400 repair bill complains about repaving decisions: Roadshow

Q: You reported in your column many months ago that San Tomas Expressway is on a repair schedule, but only for the portion north of El Camino. San Tomas needs paving all the way south to Campbell Avenue!!!

I recently crossed lanes on southbound San Tomas on my bike so I could turn left onto Payne Avenue, and I hit a deep, long pothole. It blew my tire! It cost $400 to repair because the rim was also damaged.

Hamilton Avenue east of San Tomas needs repaving, too, particularly close to Highway 17.

Also, why hasn’t Caltrans figured out yet that pavement always starts to fail within a year or so at the joint where roads two or more lanes wide are paved with multiple parallel lanes? Clearly, the technique they use is inadequate.

Finally, it blows my mind how cities and counties encourage construction with the goal of more income from fees and taxes, yet neglect allocating funds for building and maintaining infrastructure to support the resulting increase in traffic.

Reto Furler, Campbell

A: Santa Clara County officials say that funds were budgeted for paving San Tomas Expressway from Highway 101 to El Camino Real based on its relative pavement condition and high traffic volume (one of the highest in the county). Using the same criteria — pavement condition, traffic volume,  available funds — they anticipate that repaving San Tomas Expressway south of Stevens Creek Boulevard could be budgeted for the summer of 2025.

In the meantime, they have repaired potholes, including the one that caused you $400 in damage.

The pavement on San Tomas Expressway between El Camino Real and Homestead Road was improved as part of the widening project around 2016. Widening and pavement rehabilitation will be done in the future for the segment between Homestead Road and Stevens Creek Boulevard.

Q: I’m writing for advice about how to get metering lights turned on. Northbound Interstate 680 through Milpitas comes to a halt after Jacklin Road. Incoming traffic from Scott Creek is very heavy, and I feel it needs to be metered. It opens up after Mission Boulevard.

Who do I contact? This happens every afternoon. Help, Gary. It’s a free-for-all!

Anne Chavez

A: It will come in a couple of weeks. A new twist with these metering lights is that they will be on from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., continuing Caltrans’ trend toward longer hours for metering lights. They will come on an hour earlier than most metering lights because 680 traffic builds up early.

Q: On Stevens Creek eastbound at San Tomas, there was a green left-turn arrow that pointed diagonally down. What does that mean?

Steven Lim

A: A light like that means that U-turns are allowed from that lane.

Look for Gary Richards at facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com.