TO: HONORABLE MAYOR FROM: John Ristow
AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT: DOWNTOWN TRANSPORTATION DATE: October 24, 2022 PLAN
Approved Date
11/2/22
COUNCIL DISTRICTS: 3, 6
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt a resolution adopting the Downtown Transportation Plan.
OUTCOME
The City of San José will have a comprehensive, community-based, multimodal transportation plan for Downtown San José. Implementation of this plan will result in a resilient transportation system that will enhance mobility and safety, reduce automobile dependence, and help the City achieve the ambitious goals that it has set forth in the General Plan and Climate Smart.
BACKGROUND
Since early 2020, the City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) has been working on a long- range plan to guide the future of transportation in Downtown San José, a part of the city that is rapidly evolving and where big investments in transportation will change how people get around.
The purpose of the Downtown Transportation Plan (DTP) is to carefully coordinate investments in the Downtown transportation network through 2040 to make it easier to get around while also facilitating goods delivery and enhancing the quality of life and place.
Downtown San José is growing quickly, with more than 50 development projects planned in the downtown core and another 50 in the Greater Downtown area. The City’s Downtown Strategy 2040 envisions new development of up to 24,308 residential units, 28.3 million square feet of office space, 1.4 million square feet of retail, and 3,600 new hotel rooms. This growth is projected to bring in over 60,000 new residents, 100,000 new workers, 15,000 new students, and many more visitors. Accommodating this growth while making Downtown a more attractive COUNCIL AGENDA: 11/15/22
FILE: 22-1660
ITEM: 5.1
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
October 24, 2022
Subject: Downtown Transportation Plan
place to be will require carefully coordinating public and private investments to create great places, while also providing better, more convenient, and sustainable ways to get around.
San José’s Envision 2040 General Plan sets forth an ambitious vision for a more urban, connected, and livable city within the coming two decades. The General Plan seeks to achieve this by putting San José residents’ daily activities closer together, which will make it possible to drive less and walk, bike, and take public transportation more. Making this vision a reality will require a focus on safety for people walking and biking. It will also require especially large changes in Downtown, where a significant proportion of projected housing and job growth will occur and where large investments in public transportation are planned to serve this growth. It is no accident that Downtown is the focal point of regional investment in transportation with electrified Caltrain service beginning in 2024, the BART extension to Downtown under construction soon, and longer-term projects like California High-Speed Rail and a reimagined Diridon Station on the horizon.
Advances in transportation technology are also giving people new ways of getting around, and revolutionizing goods delivery. Ride-hailing services, which did not exist a decade ago, now make up a portion of the total cars on Downtown streets. More people are using shared bikes and electric scooters. On-demand delivery services have become a part of everyday life, from e- commerce package delivery to food delivery. Increased delivery activity adds additional strain on the transportation system and makes curbside loading and unloading more difficult to manage. This strain will only be exacerbated in the future with autonomous vehicles, which are now being tested on city streets and will become more common in the future.
Against the backdrop of these profound changes, the DTP aims to create a safer, more effective and efficient transportation system for Downtown, one that makes it easier to get around while preserving and enhancing the quality of place. A transportation system that enhances mobility and access to opportunity for all. The many and diverse groups of people who live, work, learn, and play in Downtown deserve clean, safe, affordable, reliable, and sustainable transportation options to access the opportunities and resources necessary to thrive, regardless of their race, gender, ability, age, and/or income.
ANALYSIS
For purposes of the DTP, Downtown San José is defined as the historic downtown core and neighborhoods adjacent to the core that are included in the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Transit-Rich Priority Development Areas, the ‘Greater Downtown’ and ‘Downtown Frame’ areas, see figure 1 below.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
October 24, 2022
Subject: Downtown Transportation Plan
Figure 1 Plan's Study Area
Developed with the community to support mobility needs and future growth in Downtown, the DTP provides a framework for 56 new transportation projects – including ‘Big Moves’ (major projects), programs, and policies to be implemented by 2040. The DTP aims to complement other major downtown investments to elevate Downtown San José’s position as a regional destination for jobs, housing, retail, and cultural activities. The DTP implements the City’s vision of a resilient transportation system that meets the growing demand for connecting people and places within and beyond the city center. With the above objectives in mind, the DTP proposes a wide array of transportation projects, which can be grouped into the following categories:
Improving Transit: Transit has the highest capacity for moving people into, out of, and around the Downtown. Frequent transit services can carry at least five times as many people in an hour as cars do, with fewer delays and requiring far less space. The DTP calls for improving transit reliability and access to transit. The DTP prioritizes transit projects in a number of ways, including preparing for the BART extension; expanding Downtown’s Grand Boulevards and implementing transit priority treatments along them; rebuilding the San José Diridon Station for more transit and rail; and adding new “Big Moves” to speed up light rail and transform Santa Clara Street.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
October 24, 2022
Subject: Downtown Transportation Plan
Top Priority Projects:
Transit Wayfinding (Short-term)
Willow-Keyes Transit Priority Improvements (before BART opening) Enhancing Santa Clara Street (Big Move, before BART opening) Neighborhood Shuttles (before BART opening)
Supporting Short Trips on Foot and by Bike: The growth in Downtown means more places for people to live, work, and enjoy themselves, all within a short walk or bike ride.
For many trips, people will not need to use a car or transit since they will be able to take care of their everyday needs within Downtown. Making these short walks and bike rides safe and comfortable is another key focus of the DTP through enhanced walking routes, paseos, better bikeways, wayfinding, and lighting. Safety is at the core of supporting short trips. As the City’s Vision Zero work has shown, for people to take more trips on foot or by bike, they must feel safe doing so. The DTP projects will create a calmer, protected, well-lit environment for people walking and biking.
Top Priority Projects:
Pedestrian and Bike Wayfinding (Short-term)
Pedestrian Lighting (Short-term)
San Pedro Street Pedestrian Priority Improvements (Short-term) Post Street Paseo (Short-term)
San Pedro Street Paseo (Short-term)
San Fernando Street Bike Priority Improvements (Short-term) St. John Street Bike Priority Improvements (Short-term) Second Street Conversion to Two-way and Bike Priority Improvements (before BART opening)
Third Street Conversion to Two-way and Pedestrian Priority Improvements (before BART opening)
Fourth Street Conversion to Two-way and Pedestrian Priority Improvements (before BART opening)
Using Excess Capacity Efficiently: Downtown streets can and will carry more people than they do today, as the population grows. Most times of day and on most streets, there is room for additional people and little traffic. Notable exceptions are when big events occur at San José State University, the San José McEnery Convention Center, and the SAP center.
Top Priority Projects:
Bird Avenue/I-280 Bicycle and Pedestrian Connection (Big Move, before BART opening)
I-280 Ramp Consolidation (Big Move, after BART opening)
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
October 24, 2022
Subject: Downtown Transportation Plan
Simplifying the Street Grid: Today, many downtown streets only go one way – often requiring confusing, out-of-direction travel. The DTP calls for restoring parts of the downtown grid and converting many downtown streets to two-way travel. With these changes, people will have more direct routes. The street grid will also become more resilient when streets are closed to traffic due to events or unexpected conditions.
Top Priority Projects:
Julian-St. James “Livable Streets” Couplet Conversion (Short-term) Complement complete streets with proactive curb management (before BART opening)
The full plan can be found at the following link:
https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/transportation/planning- policies/downtown-transportation-plan
CONCLUSION
With these strategies and a prioritized list of associated improvements, the DTP lays the foundation for a resilient Downtown transportation system that meets the demand of both current and future generations. Streets will be designed to invite people of all ages and abilities to move, exercise, and socialize in a safe, convenient, and affordable manner. Whether people walk, bike, take public transit, arrive by car, or dine in a parklet, Downtown streets will facilitate movement while also fostering vibrant public life for all.
EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
The DTP identifies a list of key quantitative and qualitative performance indicators to track the performance over time, allowing the City and Downtown community to gauge progress towards stated goals and anticipated outcomes, and adjust prioritization of projects as facts change on the ground. The quantitative key performance indicators used in the DTP are a subset of those used in Move San José
1. The full list of indicators can be found in Chapter 2 of the DTP. DOT will report annually to the City Council Transportation and Environment Committee regarding these key performance indicators.
CLIMATE SMART SAN JOSE
The recommendation in this memorandum aligns with one or more Climate Smart San José energy, water, or mobility goals.
1 Link to Move San Jose Plan: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments- offices/transportation/projects-planning/move-san-jose
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
October 24, 2022
Subject: Downtown Transportation Plan
PUBLIC OUTREACH
Through partnerships with three community-based organizations, Walk San José, Chopsticks Alley, and Latinx Business Circle/Prosperity Lab, the DTP engaged with community stakeholders to better understand transportation issues and opportunities in Downtown. The Downtown stakeholders include residents, employees, visitors, institutions, business owners, community groups, and public agencies. The community-based organizations helped with the following key tasks:
• Promoting events, drafting DTP vision and goals, and reviewing outreach materials. • Forming an Equity Advisory Council to push the project team’s thinking on how to center social and racial equity in the DTP planning process. • Helping draw participation from stakeholders historically underrepresented due to a variety of social, economic, and cultural barriers to participation.
Public engagement activities included five listening sessions, three speaker series, a digital workshop, five Equity Advisory Council meetings, five Technical Advisory Committee meetings, a logo contest, a visioning online survey, an online open house, and more than 30 meetings with community and focus groups. These activities culminated in a defined shared vision, a set of five Downtown transportation goals, and a list of 17 stakeholder-supported strategies and 56 associated improvement projects to accommodate future growth and balance the needs of all transportation users. Refer to the DTP Engagement Summary Report (Appendix C) for more information.
COORDINATION
This memorandum was coordinated with the Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement Department, the City Attorney’s Office, and the City Manager’s Budget Office.
COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION/INPUT
No commission recommendation or input is associated with this action.
COST SUMMARY/IMPLICATIONS
The estimated build-out cost of each DTP project will not be available until the conceptual designs are developed. The City’s 2023-2027 Adopted Capital Improvement Plan does not include dedicated funding for the projects included in the DTP. The City will leverage other projects and programs to fund DTP projects, including Vision Zero, new development, BART Silicon Valley Phase II, parks, storm water, and green infrastructure projects. Additionally, DOT
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
October 24, 2022
Subject: Downtown Transportation Plan
will continue to pursue regional, state, and federal grant funding to help implement DTP projects. Projects are planned to be implemented through the 2040 planning horizon of the DTP and will be included in future Capital Improvement Plans as the projects are developed.
CEQA
Determination of Consistency with the Envision San José 2040 General Plan Final Program Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), adopted through Resolution No. 76041, and Supplemental EIR Resolution No. 77617, adopted on December 15, 2015, and Addenda thereto (File No.
ER22-257).
/s/
JOHN RISTOW
Director of Transportation
For questions, please contact Ramses Madou, Division Manager of Planning, Policy, and Sustainability, at [email protected] or (408) 975-3283.