Filling the carpool lane gap on Montague Expressway
QThere’s a stretch on Montague Expressway in Milpitas without a carpool lane. When will that be fixed? My wife and I really want to know.
Michael Lee Milpitas
ASoon, very soon. South Milpitas Boulevard will be completely closed from Montague to Garden Street for five weeks beginning Oct. 14 for a big water project that will also widen and raise Montague to accommodate the flood control measures and fill the carpool lane gap.
In addition, flood protection measures for Berryessa Creek will include the construction of a new bridge where the expressway crosses the creek, in addition to widening and stabilizing the creek bed. And South Milpitas Boulevard will be widened to connect with Capitol Avenue.
QI recently moved to South San Jose. My traffic woes are a whole other story, but I enjoy hearing the trains on Monterey Road in the evening. Except when a train comes through after 11 p.m. with its horn blasting!
What gives? All the crossings have barriers and bells. This can’t be allowed.
Jax Crawford San Jose
ANot only is this allowed, it’s required. Federal law requires train horns to be sounded at all public crossings, 24 hours a day, to warn motorists and pedestrians that a train is approaching.
Horns need to be used for 15-20 seconds before a locomotive enters all public grade crossings, but not more than one-quarter mile in advance. And how is your new commute on Highway 101?
QYou’ve mentioned the new yellow-on-black California plates in a couple of recent columns. I observe that many of them have a similar format of a letter, three numerals, letter, numeral. Is that some special numbering devised for these new plates?
I had an original yellow-on-black plate XRY961 on my 1969 VW in what was then the standard format of three letters and three numerals.
Steve Casner Sunnyvale
AA 1969 bug! A great car. Yes, this is a change. The DMV created a special configuration for non-personalized legacy license plates. The old six-digit configurations have already largely been used or set aside for special plates such as the Arts Plate or the Pet Lovers Plate and weren’t available when the legacy license plate program was created.
QAs a frequent Highway 17 traveler, I am concerned about the speedcontrol cameras that you mentioned might be coming. Do you know if they’re really going to implement them?
I do not use my cellphone and I pay attention when I drive 17, but I do like to go faster than the 50 mph speed limit at about 60. When you drive it as much as I do, it’s a good speed.
Debbie D.
ASpeed cameras are just an idea now. Nothing is imminent and we’ll probably have people on Mars before then.