Los Gatos road is getting highly anticipated safety upgrades

The Los Gatos Town Council Dec. 6 unanimously approved a slate of safety improvements to a half-mile stretch of Blossom Hill Road used by students at Blossom Hill Elementary and Fisher Middle School.

Between 7,000 and 8,000 vehicles travel down the road daily, raising safety concerns among parents whose children walk and bike to school.

Improvements are set to be made next summer and include reducing the road from two lanes to one, enhancing bike and pedestrian safety with striping, and installing “quick build” traffic control measures.

This new design is a scaled-back version of the initial safety improvement plan staff presented in 2021, which had a price tag upwards of $4.6 million. The town did not secure the necessary grant funding from One Bay Area to make that project possible. One Bay Area was established to guide funding from the Federal Highway Administration is distributed to transportation projects and programs throughout the Bay Area.

“What we’re proposing here is the quick build scenario to at least get some improvements done and on the ground,” Nicolle Burnham, the town’s director of parks and public works said at the council meeting.

Council also asked staff to look for other safety options on Cherrystone Drive and consider a stop sign at the right turn to southbound Cherry Blossom Lane from Blossom Hill Road.

The parks and public works department has already allocated $300,000 in funding to the project.

Staff held several community engagement meetings in 2021 and 2022, where residents offered feedback. Many of them wanted the town to do more.

“The community would love for us to go further, reconstruct, do more major, significant reconstruction to the area,” Burnham said.