Caltrans Highway 17 Community Outreach/Video

The two-lane, twisty main link between San José and Santa Cruz functions like an urban freeway, with 60,000 fast-moving vehicles using it every day. But it’s also a local road for the thousands of people who live along it and rely on it for access to their neighborhoods and businesses. The two different uses cause conflicts and, not surprisingly, Highway 17 has a high accident rate. Working with the local community, Caltrans developed an Access Management Plan that will fundamentally change the location and designs of driveways, medians and interchanges to reduce vehicle conflict points. Hundreds of community members provided input in person at community meetings and online because the changes will permanently affect how they get on and off the highway. And many more viewed community guide brochure and the video that explains the new highway concepts.