San Jose residents want strong walls to protect neighborhoods

The San Jose City Council is moving to fix decades-old highway enforcement and approve sound walls along Interstate 280 near a neglected area.

Soundproofing walls will be built along the I-280 corridor near San Jose’s Gardner neighborhood and an elementary school. The work is expected to be approved by council members on Tuesday. Gardner Neighborhood Association have been rallying for decades to build a strong wall bordering their community. Residents complained that living next to the interstate was unsafe due to sound pollution. highway trash and the fire hazard caused by the growing number of homeless people posing a threat.

Elements of the sound wall project were first mentioned in 1992 after Caltrans identified need for barriers between Bird Avenue and Los Gatos Creek. But residents say stronger walls should have been built when the interstate first opened in the 1960s.

“Gardner Elementary School is the only grammar school I know of that is near a freeway exit and doesn’t have a sound wall,” San Jose resident Robert Jones told Spotlight. “This has been the case for 50 years. Noise pollution, bumpers flying off cars into residential areas, that sort of thing.”

He said agencies like Caltrans have neglected the predominantly Latino area in favor of nearby Willow Glen and downtown areas.

Jurisdictional changes between Caltrans and VTA, as well as questions about funding, have pushed the project’s construction timeline from 2006 to a planned start date of spring 2025.

The four sound walls are expected to be completed by the end of 2026 and will be built on Caltrans right-of-way at a maintenance cost of more than $10,000 per year. A memo from San Jose transportation officials said the city supports the project because sound walls reduce noise and improve quality of life for residents.

“VTA, San Jose and Caltrans employees have worked closely together to advance this initiative over the years, and their commitment has been instrumental in moving the project forward. We are in the final design stages and plan to publish construction tender documents early next year,” a VTA spokesperson told San José Spotlight.

While the city will be tasked with maintaining vegetation growth on its side of the wall, Caltrans will be responsible for maintaining strong walls.

City officials also called the Gardner neighborhood “historically disadvantaged” and said sound walls would reduce noise and encourage more friendly environment.

“You can see the damage done to the area, and now imagine all the people who live one block away,” Jones said in an interview with San José Spotlight. “There have been about 20 fires under the freeway in the last year or two.”

The fire hazard posed by overgrown vegetation and trees between the freeway on-ramp and the homes surrounding Gardner Elementary School will be mitigated by durable sound walls, Jones said.

State Sen. Dave Cortese said the sound wall project was a top issue when he spoke with members of the Gardner Neighborhood Association during his 2020 reelection campaign. Cortese said former state Sen. Jim Bill pushed for funding for the project before he resigned, prompting him to take up the torch and move it forward.

“I’m very pleased to hear that the project is on the City Council agenda and hopefully there will be no further delays,” Cortese told San José Spotlight. “This is a victory because we tried all sorts of stopgap measures that just didn’t work.”
President of the Gardner Neighborhood Association Chuck Cantrell It is reported that the fence located along this area has been permanently cut and does not provide protection from noise or fire. He said brush and trees taller than 8 feet are threatening nearby homes due to homeless people starting fires in the area.

“It’s very easy (for state and city officials) to marginalize already marginalized communities and say, ‘We don’t have enough in the budget right now and we can do it later,’” Cantrell said in an interview with San José Spotlight. “If it’s on the (city council) consent agenda, that means somebody wants to make a change there. Let’s hope this means that the work that Dave Cortese and others have done to promote this issue is actually working.”