The director of Public Works for the City of Fremont said in an interview this week that a new road being constructed off Luther Road in conjunction with a new elementary school should not create more congestion or backed up traffic in the area.
Justin Zetterman, director of public works for Fremont, spoke to the Tribune on Tuesday about the soon-to-be new road called Elkhorn Drive, which is in the very early stages of construction. The road is part of the Fremont Public Schools new Deer Pointe Elementary School development.
Elk Lane already exists — running south of 23rd Street from the Aldi store, east of Deer Lane westward to about 100 yards past the intersection of Deer Crossing.
The new Elkhorn Drive, Zetterman explained, will run in front of and to the north of the new elementary school, then curve northward, connecting to the current end point of Elk Lane just west of Deer Crossing and then continuing westward to Luther Road.
People are also reading…
The new Elkhorn Drive, once completed, will create a four-way intersection at Luther Road directly across the street from the current endpoint of 22nd Street.
One concern raised by residents and drivers is that traffic on the two-lane Luther Road is already heavier than in the past, and vehicles waiting at the lighted traffic signal at Luther Road and 23rd Street — a scant few hundreds away from the new intersection — could become backed up all the way to the four-way stop at 22nd Street and Elkhorn Drive, in turn creating more congestion as cars wait at the new stop sign.
Zetterman said the new, four-way stop sign traffic control will be installed once the extension of Elkhorn Drive is completed. The newly extended thoroughfare is expected to be completed and open to traffic before the new elementary school opens in August 2024, he added, but no finish date has been determined.
“The traffic study that was done recommended a four-way stop (sign) at 22nd (Street) and Luther (Road), and that is the current plan moving forward. That is what will be there to control traffic,” Zetterman said. “The traffic study did not show that traffic either backing up from (northbound) Luther (Road) or southbound Luther traffic backing up toward 23rd (Street) would conflict with any of the intersections.”
Zetterman also said changes are being planned for the lighted traffic signal at Luther Road and 23rd Street. But, he noted, no plans are on the table at the moment to widen Luther Road in any manner.
“We will be installing a lefthand turn arrow for northbound Luther (Road) traffic to get onto 23rd (Street), which will help,” he added. “Widening Luther to three lanes is a project that has been out there for years. It is very expensive. There are a lot of utilities, especially the further south you get. It is a difficult project.”
The new Elkhorn Drive and the Elk Lane corridor is expected to be heavily traveled, as in addition to the new elementary school being constructed, a new bank branch is under construction between Elk Lane and 23rd Street and a new Chipotle restaurant with a double drive-through lane is planned for further east on Elk Lane at the intersection of Diers Parkway.
Zetterman said despite all those projects, as well as a potential new housing development located between the new elementary school and Luther Road, the traffic for those entities and businesses would not conflict.
“Fortunately, a lot of these (developments), the users don’t overlap. So, when Chipotle is at its busiest at lunch or for dinner, the school traffic is not there. In the morning, and at the end of day with rush hour … the school traffic being in the afternoon … (overlap) isn’t there. There may be some overlap in the morning. That helps a bit,” Zetterman explained. “It will be a change in traffic patterns. But, undoubtedly, no matter how hard you try to model things, the real world is going to tell us if we need to make any tweaks or changes to the plans.”
The new lefthand turn arrow signal is expected to be constructed and running sometime in 2024, Zetterman said. The Elkhorn Drive construction timeframe has not been finalized.