During the well attended San Jose City Council meeting last night, the council voted unanimously to approve the Ocala Avenue / Hedding Street Bikeway plan with the amendments proposed by Councilmembers Sam Liccardo, Rose Herrera and Xavier Campos.
26 comments were received from the public. 20 spoke in favor of the plan, while two people said they liked bike lanes but didn’t want parking removed. The four people who opposed the plan included a cab driver who uses Hedding Street as a cut-through when traffic becomes too congested on I-880. In other words, he wants to use the front yards on Hedding Street as his own personal freeway. (And people claim cyclists are entitled!)
The council vote unanimously for the compromise project, in which Hedding and Ocala will both be reduced from four lanes to three. Buffered bike lanes will be painted onto Hedding except in places where on-street parking will remain between 2nd and 8th Streets. The bike lanes will be painted green along the entire length of Hedding.
Because the US Federal Highway Administration has gave an interim approval in May of 2011, and the California Traffic Control Devices Committee recommended this interim approval for use in California in August 2011, the city of San Jose need only notify the state on their use of green lanes without submitting a formal Request To Experiment.
Thank you to District 3 resident Mark for the report from City Hall.