Drivers may see red, but pedestrians come first at busy Highway 101 entrance: Roadshow

Q: Can you explain why there is a No Right Turn on Red light in the eastbound direction of Mathilda for the northbound Highway 101 entrance?

There is no blind spot and I do not understand why cars would not be able to make a right turn during a red light for the northbound Highway 101 entrance. And with cars backing up on Mathilda waiting for the light to turn green and then proceeding onto the northbound Highway 101 entrance, it can become a safety hazard as a long procession of cars builds up to merge onto Highway 101.

Greg Tsang

A: I sent your question to the City of Sunnyvale. The No Right Turn on Red was installed to improve safety for pedestrians and was part of the Mathilda/237/101 interchange project. Since northbound Mathilda traffic cannot make a right turn on red now, motorists have a better view of pedestrians in that area. The city said that while there is additional delay for drivers, they do not see vehicle queues there as being excessive and all right turn traffic clears in one cycle.

Q: Regarding the fenced-off area near Highway 84 that Lisa Tahamtanzadeh asked about, she could be referring to the Vallecitos Nuclear Center. An electricity-generating facility from 1957 to 1963, it has been used for research ever since. Its bigger reactors were closed in 1977 after a fault was discovered under the site. A small reactor still operates for nondestructive material imaging, and they also produce radioactive materials used in medicine and industry.

Eamonn Gormley, San Jose

A: Thanks for shedding light on this mystery.