Thread: San Jose:Traffic restrictions for Cinco de Mayo

All this for a holiday that isn't American-in America?

Traffic restrictions for Cinco de Mayo
By Gary Richards
Mercury News
Article Launched: 05/02/2008 01:38:06 AM PDT


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Several freeway ramps into downtown San Jose - and possibly several heavily used city streets - will be closed this weekend as police try to control traffic during the city's annual Cinco de Mayo festivities.

Although Sunday promises to draw the biggest crowds, with up to 300,000 people expected to attend the parade and festival, ramp restrictions off highways 87 and 101 and Interstate 280 will begin tonight and be in place the next two evenings as well. But no one can say for certain when or if any streets will be shut down. And, with the Sharks in town today, the crowds are expected to be even bigger.

"The freeway closure times are pretty firm," said Sgt. Paul Woo of the San Jose traffic unit, adding that decisions to close key city streets including Santa Clara Street and King and Story roads won't be made until each night. "There is no set time for those diversions to be activated nor how long they will remain in place. It will simply depend on the flow of traffic."

Police say they have no plans to close any off-ramps along Interstate 680 but may divert traffic from northbound I-680 onto northbound Jackson Street to prevent backups on nearby Story Road. But that is the only ramp along I-680 that looks like it will be affected.

Here is why some other roads may suddenly be declared off-limits:

As traffic thickens and cars stall in backups, young people standing on nearby sidewalks often begin yelling at drivers, sometimes jumping on the hoods of cars "and doing other stupid things," Woo said. "If we keep traffic moving, it makes for fewer problems."

That means sometimes spur-of-the-moment decisions to close a street, keeping out other cars to prevent roads from clogging up even more.

But every year, drivers not attending the festival and simply trying to get home have complained about short trips turning into an hour or more because of these sudden closings that can stretch to the Berryessa area east of 101. San Jose police changed tactics a couple of years ago, advising residents in those areas to tell police manning roadblocks that they are simply trying to get home. Police will ask that they show proof that they live nearby, and say they will try to allow residents to get through closed-off areas.

Take Jonathan David of San Jose, who had what he thought was a 10-minute drive to a friend's house two years ago when he ran into a Cinco de Mayo traffic jam.

"While I'd heard they had closed off the downtown exits, I didn't realize that 10th Street was one of those, and that there was no exit I could take until Bird Avenue," he said, angry that warning signs were not posted. "On a Sunday evening, it should not have taken 45 minutes of bumper-to-bumper traffic."

Adding to concerns this year are other big events downtown this weekend.

The Sharks play Dallas in the playoffs tonight and a Michael Buble concert will be held Saturday at HP Pavilion, while a Stealth playoff game will take place there Sunday.

"It would be a good idea," said Woo, "to arrive early."




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Contact Gary Richards at mrroadshow@mercurynews.com or (40 920-5335
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As traffic thickens and cars stall in backups, young people standing on nearby sidewalks often begin yelling at drivers, sometimes jumping on the hoods of cars "and doing other stupid things," Woo said. "If we keep traffic moving, it makes for fewer problems."

Since when did this become acceptable behaviour?!?!

As traffic thickens and cars stall in backups, young people standing on nearby sidewalks often begin yelling at drivers, sometimes jumping on the hoods of cars "and doing other stupid things," Woo said. "If we keep traffic moving, it makes for fewer problems

Ok, instead of making motorists and nearby residents suffer, why don't the police saturate the area and arrest any individual who is loitering about or who engages in forementioned behavior.

Why is it that certain groups are given a pass because they have demonstrated a propensity for not being able to follow the laws of society?

Since when did this become acceptable behaviour?!?!

Since the first illegal amnesty in 1986.