Highway 17 pains remain at Vine Hill — no relief in sight

This past winter, many commuters discovered Vine Hill Road as a shortcut on Highway 17 to avoid traffic backed up by the mudslides. Now, during the evening commute on 17, drivers line up to make the left turn onto Vine Hill, which causes a backup in the southbound lanes. On some days, traffic backs up to the Summit in both lanes. In addition, these drivers have to cross over the two-lane northbound traffic, which is extremely dangerous. Can Caltrans limit this left turn during commute hours? — Joe Commuter Oh, brother. I’ve been pleading with Caltrans for nearly five months to see if there is anything that can be done. With San Jose-Soquel Road closed, the use of Vine Hill from southbound 17 is a disaster waiting to happen. The other day, after a quarter-mile of lane 1 backup and lane 2 moving slowly, the person in front of me in lane 2 actually stopped in the middle of lane at the Vine Hill intersection and put on their left-turn signal light to force their way into the queue. … After reading Caltrans’ comments on not allowing turns from 3 to 7 p.m., I can only say that Caltrans has been wrong before. — Steve Taty and so many others These complaints went to the Caltrans operations unit. Officials say they’ll continue to monitor the area but that no changes are planned. They fear that a ban on left turns, a temporary traffic light and cops directing traffic might make it worse. I heard from a friend that Caltrans was considering blocking all turns across Highway 17 traffic, as it’s very dangerous. I would support this idea. It’s reached the point of insanity. — Doug Lange It has indeed, with crashes on the rise. There are long-range plans — really long range, as in a couple of decades — to build several new interchanges and to ban nearly all left turns on the Santa Cruz County side. While this will not add more lanes, it may reduce those frightening left turns between Granite Creek Road and the Summit. Go to www.ca-hwy17amp.org for more information. Do you know anything about the work happening on Summit Road this week? The sign leaving Los Gatos said “Summit Rd Exit closed 6-26 to 6-28 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.” There are already cones along Summit west of 17, and “Road Work Ahead” signs up at intersections. — Angela Hedges, Los Gatos Crews will be making pavement repairs and striping the ramps. And what’s the reason why this Highway 17 work can’t be done at night? — Terry Swinggi Believe it or not, despite the scorching 100-degree-plus heat it’s not warm enough in the mountains at night. They need around 55 degrees for everything to stick.