Published in the July 22 – Aug. 4, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
Photo by Marty Cheek
Third Street will undergo major renovations including taking out this water fountain beginning the week of July 6 until late August.
If you’ve been in downtown Morgan Hill recently, no doubt you’ve seen a bit of chaos in the street construction activity that started after the July 4 weekend Freedom Fest events. Yes, downtown will be getting messy, noisy and inconvenient for traffic. But we encourage you to be patient for the next several months. We also encourage you during this time of transformation to continue supporting the downtown businesses by shopping at the stores and enjoying the restaurants as patrons.
The intensified construction schedule means an earlier than expected end to the six-month Complete Streets pilot program started Feb. 18. During the program, the city and consulting firm Alta Planning and Design have been gathering data on vehicle speeds, pedestrian activity, traffic volumes, parking occupancy, noise levels and bicyclists using the special lanes.
Information from these metrics will be used for a Morgan Hill City Council decision whether or not to permanently close two lanes (one in each direction) on Monterey Road between Dunne and Main avenues. The construction work would have skewed traffic data. So the city staff recommended ending the pilot program a month earlier than planned. The council members will receive a final report on Complete Streets at the Aug. 5 meeting, four weeks earlier than was first scheduled. The council is expected to make its final decision on lane closures in the fall.
The planned downtown improvements over the next several months should — by the holiday season — make the downtown a much better experience for visitors and residents.
We have a downtown with a lot of legacy and character, one that we can take pride in. But for the past several years it has also been a work in progress. And with the ramping up of construction in improving the streets, our downtown district will be even better, increasing the number of people visiting and making the businesses located there more successful.
Here’s an overview of what you’ll see during the next several months:
The Monterey Road Streetscape project began July 13. During phase 1, which is planned to run until Aug. 21, the buffered bike lane and the parking on Monterey Road will be unavailable because trenching work will take place adjacent to the sidewalk from Dunne to Main avenues. During this phase, vehicle traffic will continue to use the lane closest to the median. Work is scheduled to take place from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Some work will take place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
During phase 2, which runs from Aug. 21 to Oct. 20, vehicle traffic will be moved to the lane closest to the sidewalk. The lane closest to the median will be closed to traffic as construction crews work on the median and trenching. Vehicle access and pedestrian access will not be impacted, but there will continue to be no bike lane during this phase. All Monterey Road parking will be available during this phase.
From July 6 to the week of Sept. 7, Third Street will endure a significant transformation with construction including planting trees, drainage work and taking out the water fountain and adding new street lights.
Work installing utility lines underground on the east side of Monterey will include the parking lots between First and Second streets and Second and Third streets. Downtown parking during the day will be impacted during the trenching for this part of the project which is expected to last from Aug. 17 to Sept. 11 for the parking lot between First and Second streets and from Sept. 7 to Oct. 9 for the lot between Second and Third streets.
During the next several months, downtown Morgan Hill will be chaotic at times. But as the cliché goes, there’s no creativity without chaos.
