The Hale Avenue Extension opened August 24th! The Morgan Hill community made the plans for the roadway in 1969; fifty-five years ago. The delays in construction were caused by lack of funds and shifting responsibilities for the budget. Most plans for our community do not take fifty-five years to reach fruition, but they all begin the same way - with input from the community.
Morgan Hill is currently creating the city’s first Transportation Master Plan (TMP), the process began in 2023 with community meetings for input, a community wide survey and traffic studies. The last week of August the city hosted two meetings to receive feedback from the community on their priorities.
The draft goals for the TMP are (consolidated):
· Safety: Eliminate traffic fatalities and reduce the number of collisions.
· Increased transportation options: provide a range of high-quality and comfortable bikeways, trails, pedestrian facilities, and local transit options.
· Access to Regional Transit Services and Local Destinations: enhance access to transit services and local destinations through improved multi modal connections.
· Congestion Management: Reduce travel time and improve vehicular throughput on city streets while minimizing the extent of regional cut through traffic.
Each of the goals has a series of strategies and actions and the attendees of the meeting were asked to prioritize which were most important to them. Not surprisingly, safety was a top concern for the attendees. Chris Ghione Public Services Director shared, “Through the background research associated with this project we have data showing that Morgan Hill has a very safe system compared to neighboring Cities, our goal is to make it better.”
“The Chamber of Commerce has been privileged to serve as a participant on the Master Transportation Plan Community Stakeholder Group for the last year, with an overarching intention to learn and provide input on public safety and congestion mitigation advancements over the next 10 to 15 years.”
In an ideal world, the city would complete all the actions and strategies to meet the goals of the TMP. Unfortunately, Morgan Hill has the lowest per capita discretionary tax revenue in Santa Clara County, at $600 compared to Gilroy at nearly $800 and Milpitas at over $900. This revenue is primarily from property and sales tax. “As our cities budget allocations are an essential consideration in finalizing the Transportation Master Plan, alignment of available funds to key areas of project prioritization will now take on center stage of the efforts.”
Provide your input today! The City has one additional chance for the community to provide input, the survey was posted September 2, and closes September 22. This is your last chance to impact the future transportation of Morgan Hill – let your voice be heard go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3MCFD89 today to complete the survey.
Article authored by Chamber Board Member Cheri Brown.
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