Delivery trucks: Areas marked ‘No Stopping’ mean you, too
Q
As a bicycle commuter, I write with a comment and a question.
First, the comment: People who do not stop at stop signs and people who use their cellphones while driving put me at significant risk. A glance might alert you to an oncoming automobile but not a less visual bicycle.
My question concerns bicycle lanes marked with “No Parking” signs. Are delivery and yard maintenance vehicles exempt due to the short duration of their stops? — Kary Lynch
A
No, delivery and yard maintenance vehicles are not exempt from “No Stopping” signs. Complaints may be submitted to the city of San Jose’s Parking Compliance Program at parking.compliance@sanjoseca.gov or 408-277-8900.
But let’s get real here. Violators are often gone before staff can get out to ticket them. While no single solution will solve the problem of vehicles blocking bikeways, one that may help is the installation of more protected bike lanes, which have a vertical physical element separating cars from bikes. San Jose is developing a new city bike plan called Better Bike Plan 2025, and it will recommend a network of Protected Bike Lanes. For more information, see the project website bikesanjose.com.
Q
You wrote that “Something that sets the (101 study) apart from other studies is that it focuses on improving options for sharing rides through carpool, vanpools, transit.”
Wrong! That’s just more of what they’ve done for the last 25 years.
What we need to do is improve 101 to six lanes in each direction through San Jose to San Francisco, and rebuild all the interchanges to modern standards to eliminate choke points (think the 101/880 interchange).
What we’ll get are more buses and raffle prizes.
— Larry J.
A
Like express lanes.
Q
My wife and I took a trip on Highway 1 to Big Sur and beyond. Great views, as we all know. But what I did not expect were dozens of goats roaming the fields. Tell me more.
— Fred Hastings, San Jose
A
Caltrans is using goats to control weeds within a 20-acre site adjacent to Highway 1 just north of the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse. Instead of relying on herbicides, Caltrans is taking a more sustainable approach to revitalizing the native coastal prairie next to the recent highway realignment project that was completed in 2017. Two double-decker trucks unloaded about 300 animals to help remove invasive nonnative weeds such as bur clover, mustard and thistle.
The animals are confined to selected grazing areas by temporary fencing, which is moved every few days. These goats will graze at a rate of about 1 acre per day for three weeks.
Goats have also been put to work on Highway 237 and Interstate 680 along the Sunol Grade.