COUNCIL AGENDA: 4/18/2023
ITEM: 5.2
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND
MEMBERS OF THE CITY
COUNCIL
FROM: Mayor Mahan
Vice Mayor Kamei
Councilmember Davis
SUBJECT: AIRPORT CONNECTOR
PROJECT
DATE: 4/14/2023
APPROVED:
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the staff recommendation with the following direction
1) Explore and present to Council options for undertaking a feasibility study of the West San Carlos/Stevens Creek corridor including funding requirements, either as a separate project or as part of the Diridon to Airport Connecter’s pre-development agreement.
Background
The City is proposing to construct a transit solution referred to as the Airport Transit Connector Project that will connect passengers directly from the Diridon Station to the Airport. This project is a vital piece of the City’s larger Envision San José 2040 General Plan. With BART Silicon Valley Phase II coming to Diridon Station, this connector presents a tremendous opportunity for the City to connect disparate parts of its existing travel and transit infrastructure. By focusing on emerging technology for the connector, not just reusing existing choices, it also will demonstrate the innovative quality at the core of San José and the Silicon Valley. Through this project we have the enormous prospect to move people along our critical corridors in more sustainable, efficient, and accessible ways.
We should use this opportunity to also follow through on our commitment to improving the transportation options of the West San Carlos Street - Stevens Creek Corridor. In 2022, Council passed the West San José Multimodal Transportation Improvement Plan (WSJ MTIP). In it,
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
04/11/2023
Subject: Airport Connector Project
Rev 1/2018
Council provided direction to explore the feasibility of a high-capacity transit line to serve the corridor. Advancing this goal in conjunction with development of the airport connector will not only strengthen the existing transportation along West San Carlos Street - Stevens Creek Boulevard, but will also bring more riders to Diridon, BART, VTA, and SJC. As the staff report for this item itself says, “The proposed transit solution must have scalable capacity to allow for future extensions within San José and beyond such as the Stevens Creek corridor.” It is imperative to pursue faster, cost-effective transit solutions that improve interconnectivity between west San José and the larger West Valley. Advancing the project development for both the Diridon-to-Airport connection, and the Stevens Creek corridors at the same time is an important step toward that goal.
For questions, please contact Omar Din, District 1, at [email protected].
The signers of this memorandum have not had, and will not have, any private conversation with any other member of the City Council, or that member’s staff, concerning any action discussed in the memorandum, and further state that each signer’s staff members have not had, and have been instructed not to have, any such conversation with any other member of the City Council or that member's staff.