Highway underpass tornado8/12/2023 ![]() The portals create a pleasant entryway to downtown Campbell. But the good thing is that because it improves upon a standard Caltrans underpass design, it could be easily deployed anywhere else in California-or beyond. It took about five years prior to that to study, design, and approve the project. The portal cost about $4.85 million, funded mostly through grants, and even though it was delayed due to a redesign, the entire project was finished in less than two years. Lighting, artwork by Susan Zoccola that depicts locally grown produce, and wayfinding was also added, and new bike lanes now clearly demarcate the roadway. A second retaining wall creates a stunning 11,000 square feet of space for walkers to travel beneath the freeway. ![]() The design uses the existing structural framework to keep key girders in place, then carves out more space for pedestrians, excavating 4,700 cubic yards of dirt from the sides. The “before” shot, looking a lot like most freeway underpasses do today City of Campbell There just wasn’t enough room to keep cars moving and give pedestrians more space. Nearly all the space in the underpass was devoted to vehicles, with a narrow 4-foot sidewalk-added almost as an afterthought-traveling far too close to fast-moving cars. While the East Campbell Avenue Portals may look like a simple infrastructural makeover, the key is in the execution. This week, a smart redesign of Campbell’s busiest underpass revealed a well-lit path fringed with public art, landscaping, and a sweeping 26-foot-wide sidewalk. This was fine for cars, and awful for everyone else, who now had to duck into a dark, dirty, dangerous hole. When California State Route 17 came plowing through town, transportation planners located it so close to Campbell’s historic downtown that it sheared the picturesque streets off from the surrounding neighborhoods. Like most places in the U.S., the Silicon Valley city of Campbell made a big mistake a half-century ago.
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