Left Turns to Be Restored Along VTA's Alum Rock BRT

Left turns previously closed to general vehicle traffic along Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's Alum Rock Bus Rapid Transit line will be restored by August 31, 2018. 

VTA built the 7-mile BRT project to provide limited-stop, rapid transit service from the Eastridge Transit Center to the Arena Station in downtown San Jose using Capitol Expressway, Alum Rock Avenue and Santa Clara Street. For approximately one mile of the route, there is a dedicated lane for buses only, with limited opportunities for other vehicles to turn left off Alum Rock Avenue, crossing the dedicated lane.

Extensive community outreach was done ahead of the opening of the BRT lane to notify residents and businesses of the changes. It was decided that the left turns would be prohibited at Jose Figueres Avenue, McCreery Avenue and North 34th Street. However, community objections to the elimination of those turns mounted over time, in addition to traffic accidents involving cars making illegal left turns in front of VTA buses. 

VTA worked with the city of San Jose’s Department of Transportation to come up with solutions at the three intersections that eliminated left turns. The city enacted temporary safety measures which helped reduce the number of accidents.  In addition, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Transit Patrol was deployed over a period of several weeks during the summer of 2017. During that time, violations and accidents went down significantly.    

Despite those efforts, some residents and businesses have asked that the left turns be restored. City and VTA staff developed a plan that restores left turn movements at these locations while still giving VTA buses priority at traffic signals.