Roads in certain parts of fast-paced Silicon Valley have just gotten slower.
Los Gatos and Cupertino recently slowed some speed limits by 5 miles per hour in an attempt to promote traffic safety and reduce injuries and fatalities. Los Gatos will lower the speed limit from 35 to 30 mph on certain parts of Blossom Hill Road, which had two fatalities last year. The sections are between where North Santa Cruz Avenue turns into Winchester Boulevard and Camino Del Cerro. The new speed limit, which will take effect Jan. 3, will also lower speeds from Camino Del Cerro to the eastern town limits.
Cupertino went a step further, focusing on five main corridors with more crashes and injuries. The city lowered the speed limit from 35 to 30 mph along Bubb Road between McClellan Road and Stevens Creek Boulevard; Mary Avenue between Stevens Creek Boulevard and Meteor Drive; and Prospect Road between South De Anza Boulevard and South Stelling Road. The city also lowered speeds from 30 to 25 mph along McClellan Road between South De Anza Boulevard and Bubb Road, and along South Blaney Avenue between Stevens Creek Boulevard and Bollinger Road.
Cupertino has more leeway to reduce speeds along busy corridors thanks to Assembly Bill 43, approved in 2021, which gives cities more flexibility setting speed limits on streets with more pedestrians and cyclists.
Jennifer Shearin, a Cupertino resident and board member of pedestrian and cyclist advocacy group Walk-Bike Cupertino, said she noticed a difference biking and driving on McClellan Road once the speed changes went into effect last month. She said the reduced speeds could help prevent traffic injuries, which aren’t always reported.
“As a driver, I notice pedestrians more because I’m going slightly slower. I notice cyclists more. That’s one of the real benefits,” Shearin told San José Spotlight. “It allows you to be more aware of your surroundings because you’re not traveling quite so fast.”
Both municipalities have goals to prioritize and increase street safety.
The Cupertino City Council approved its Vision Zero plan, which aims to reduce and eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries, in July. There were 1,157 collisions in the city between 2012 and 2021, resulting in 83 incidents that led to death or severe injury, according to the plan’s data. Most of those collisions happened along major corridors such as Stevens Creek Boulevard.
Cupertino Councilmember Sheila Mohan said the city wants to make roads safer for everyone, whether that’s pedestrians or drivers.
“Our goal is eliminating serious injuries, eliminating fatalities and doing everything we can to prioritize safety and people in the community,” she told San José Spotlight.
Reducing speeds is just the beginning for the two West Valley municipalities. Los Gatos plans to add more permanent safety features on Blossom Hill Road that will be determined by traffic studies. Cupertino plans to reevaluate speed limits citywide next year, and has begun work on buffered bike lanes along De Anza Boulevard.
Los Gatos resident Wendy Riggs, executive director and coordinator of nonprofit Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Safe Routes to School, said lowering the speed on Blossom Hill is a good Band-Aid while residents await the larger safety improvements.
She said one life lost is too many, adding people who are concerned about the effect this will have on traffic are worried about the wrong things.
“If it was your family that (was killed), you would not complain,” Riggs told San José Spotlight. “You would be happy to sit in one more cycle of light in order to get somewhere.”
Shearin said it’s important the efforts are multi-jurisdictional because safety shouldn’t stop at city borders.
“If we all work together, we can make a real difference for the entirety of the South Bay,” she said.
Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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