San Jose District 2 Monterey Road (HWY) Resurfacing

The City of San Jose, former District 2 Administration under Councilmember Williams, and City Hall had committed to Silver Leaf residents that Monterey Road would be resurfaced by end of 2010. In return for this commitment and the funding of our top ten priorities, Silver Leaf residents have put in hundreds of hours into the City's Super Neighborhood Initiative (cleaning graffiti, picking up trash, etc.).  Despite this commitment, the City has, while continuing to mislead and over-work its constituents, siphoned away the 6 million dollars formerly held in reserve for this project to other City priorities.  Monterey Road has been rated one of the "worst" roads in the bay area.  The condition of the road is so poor that weeds grow, to knee high length, up through the cracks in the foundation.  Residents of Silver Leaf and surrounding areas have incurred unnecessary car repair expense as a direct result of these road conditions. Despite the abhorrent conditions of the road, the City has continued to perpetuate the lie that Monterey would be resurfaced, while defunding the project behind our backs.

The City was quoted as saying..
"The estimated cost of repaving Monterey Road (from Blossom Hill to Bernal) is roughly $4.6 million. This is for 6 lanes total. The first source of potential funding the Councilmember considered was the stimulus funding from Washington.  Unfortunately, this project was not put on the list for the most recent round of funding.  This is because there was supposed to be sewer line work done on Monterey, but once City staff was informed that the sewer work would not be done, the deadline to include Monterey on the list had passed.  Even if the project had successfully been awarded through the most recent phase of stimulus funding, it would still only have accounted for $2.4 million. DOT prefers not to reserve money for a project that would still require additional funding, because it would make more sense to start a project that could be finished and maintained.  The next opportunity to be eligible for stimulus funding is for projects in Fiscal Year 2011.   $6 million was originally put aside for Monterey Road and approved, but due to the FY 08/09 budget deficit, the money was pulled out. Preventative work would not necessarily be worthwhile, due to the fact that it costs $100,000 per mile to do meaningful patchwork.  However, the work would only sustain the road for about a year.  If a source for that money can be found, it may be better to hold it in reserve towards the total cost of repaving."

It is not acceptable to ask residents along the Monterey corridor to continue to suffer from the neglect of the City, Administration, and the Department of Transportation.  We, the residents of Silver Leaf and the Monterey corridor, demand that the City and District 2 follow through on their commitment to resurface Monterey Road by December 2010.

If the City has money for a "Distinctive Neighborhoods Program", to make cute neighborhoods cuter, and dandelion art sculptures, then they have money for Monterey Road.  It's all about priorities!!!  To show your support for our "Save Monterey Road" initiative, please join our petition and tell the City of San Jose to fix Monterey Road now!