Q Though I have not seen an announcement, I’ve been getting free WiFi from the Valley Transportation Authority on their articulated buses on the 22 and 522 route.
Robert Neff
Palo Alto
A Here is the official word. The VTA is testing WiFi on 125 buses and, if it works as well as it has on light-rail trains and express buses, the entire 450-bus fleet will have WiFi by the end of the year.
Q In June 2014, I mailed the required form for the 1960s California Legacy License Plate (black background with gold letters and numerals) along with the required $50 fee. My check was cashed within days and I have not heard anything about my order since that time. I did call the DMV about two months ago and after a long wait, this very nice lady said she did not have any information.
Do you have any insight into this program and their process to fill these orders?
Ed Albright
Los Gatos
A You should get your plates this summer. The deadline to request them was Jan. 1, and the DMV said it would take six to nine months to process the 7,500-plus orders and ship them out. The program also offered vehicle owners the opportunity to purchase replicas of California license plates similar to those issued in the 1950s and 1970s, but only the 1960s plate reached the required 7,500 minimum.
Q I’m hoping you can help me. In the mornings, Maude Avenue in Sunnyvale can get backed up from Mathilda Avenue all the way past Sunnyvale Avenue, with cars waiting to cross or turning right onto Mathilda. One thing holding them up: several cars parked illegally on Maude that block access to the right-turn lane. Will you please point Sunnyvale police at these cars? I suspect a ticket or two would get the message across.
Karen Williams
A I did, and Sunnyvale police say that although traffic is heavy through this intersection during commute hours, they did not observe any parking violations or issue any citations. But they will continue to monitor the area as time permits.
Q I read your column every day and am disappointed at the lack of coverage for the Highway 4 construction. This is one of the worst commutes in the country, yet no one updates us on the progress (or lack thereof). I see signs periodically about closures overnight but see very little progress. Could someone update us poor commuters and give us an approximate time when the bottlenecks at A Street West and Sommersville Road East will be eliminated?
Tom Smith
Oakley
A I stand chastised, so here we go. The bottleneck west of A Street should be eliminated upon completion of the Contra Loma Boulevard/L Street project this fall. That’s when the entire westbound freeway, starting at the A Street onramp, will open to traffic. The bottleneck east of Somersville should evaporate a year from now when an additional lane in the eastbound direction will be ready.
Also, next spring the Hillcrest Avenue and A Street projects are scheduled for completion.
For updates on Highway 4 construction, follow @4eastcounty on Twitter and sign up for updates at http://4eastcounty.org/contact/.
Q As an everyday commuter on Highway 4, I hope there’s a chance it will be completed in my lifetime. I’m curious why it’s taking close to a year to finish just the Contra Loma/L Street overpass. If Eisenhower’s interstate highway project moved at this pace, they’d still be laying asphalt somewhere near Des Moines.
Dale Burkhardt
Antioch
A This has been a toughie, but it soon should be better. The two highway bridge foundations and the median bridge for eBART (the diesel train extension) are scheduled to be completed by the end of this month, marking approximately eight months of work. A traffic shift to the interior segments is expected in early June to allow completion of the final highway improvements.
The Contra Loma Boulevard/L Street overpass must be built in stages to allow traffic to continue to flow. In the first stage, the exterior portions of the highway bridges were built and traffic shifted to those, and in the current stage, the interior portions of the highway bridges and the eBART median bridge are being built. Construction in two stages doubles the time required for the placement and removal of supporting structures and for the concrete curing. Additionally, the interior portions need to settle structurally, which takes about six weeks, before they can be connected to the settled exterior portions.
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