CAPITOL EXPRESSWAY HAS TURNED INTO A NIGHTMARE near the light rail connector expansion — and local businesses are looking to transportation officials for relief.
San Jose business owners say construction from VTA’s Eastridge to BART Regional Connector has been driving customers away, with intermittent lane closures, redirected traffic, blocked driveways and construction debris along and around Capitol Expressway creating chaos over the last two years. The agency finally set aside $500,000 for a small business and resident assistance program, after community leaders and government officials pushed for a solution. The details still need to be worked out.
Toro Taxes CEO Mayra Pérez, who is also president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley, said construction has blocked the main entrance to her office’s shopping center dozens of times over the past year. It’s led customers to assume it’s closed. She’s heard other neighboring business owners consider closing or relocating due to the lack of revenue.
“What’s happening when we miss clients, we don’t have money to pay rent,” Pérez told San José Spotlight. “If they continue to close that entry, I won’t have clients, and then how can I pay the big rent I have?”
The regional connector is scheduled to finish in 2028. The project will extend the light rail by 2.4 miles from the Eastridge Transit Center to the Alum Rock Light Rail Station along an elevated track, which mostly follows the median along Capitol Expressway. VTA is also constructing a new station at Story Road.
Short-term pain for long-term gain
The project has been heralded as an opportunity to connect lower-income communities in East San Jose to the Bay Area’s regional transportation network. District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz, who represents much of the corridor under construction, said the connector is meant to support the very businesses the construction is threatening to displace.
“The community outreach team has been doing a good job at contacting residents and speaking to businesses, but if they don’t have the money to support the businesses … you’re not solving the problem businesses are facing,” Ortiz told San José Spotlight.
VTA’s Eastridge to BART Regional Connector has been under construction for the past two years, causing traffic blockages and disrupting small businesses and residents. (B. Sakura Cannestra/San Jose Spotlight)
To Ortiz, the situation is familiar. A decade ago, construction from VTA’s Santa Clara-Alum Rock Bus Rapid Transit line created traffic chokepoints and mayhem in Little Portugal, hitting small businesses hard as customers dwindled. At the time, Ortiz was a community organizer who helped push VTA to acknowledge the impact and compensate business owners for losses.
There have been dozens of lane closures and turn changes, which Ortiz said has led to safety issues on nearby residential roads as drivers avoid Capitol Expressway. Parts of the sidewalk have also been blocked off or torn out during construction, leading to pedestrians walking in the road.
Ortiz said his office has been hearing from residents and business owners around the Capitol Expressway construction every week. He gained support from VTA board members, including Mayor Matt Mahan, Councilmember Domingo Candelas, Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas and VTA Board Chair and Campbell Mayor Sergio Lopez. The group submitted a referral for VTA to once again find ways to support small businesses facing challenges because of the construction.
A VTA spokesperson said the proposed assistance program still needs to be fleshed out, and approved by the VTA board of directors. While the details are still being worked out, the spokesperson said it’ll likely include compensating businesses being impacted by construction.
The agency has multiple points of contact for residents, the spokesperson said, including quarterly project updates sent to residents via mail, hundreds of home visits and more than 80 community events.
Encouraging people to shop locally
Kenneth Ronsse, VTA’s deputy director of engineering and program delivery, said they’re working to balance safe construction needs with minimizing neighborhood impacts.
“It’s an important investment in this corridor that we’re all very proud to be a part of,” Ronsse told San José Spotlight. “We also recognize that construction is inconvenient and we take very seriously our work minimizing this inconvenience.”
Ronsse said the team launched a “Shop Capitol” marketing campaign to encourage residents to visit local businesses, but may expand its advertising as part of the assistance program.
While advertising would help, Fernando Galindo, owner of restaurant La Grullensa, said economic relief would alleviate immediate pain. He knew the construction could reduce foot traffic after VTA’s outreach, but the severity has been damaging.
“It’s an important investment in this corridor that we’re all very proud to be a part of. We also recognize that construction is inconvenient and we take very seriously our work minimizing this inconvenience.”
Kenneth Ronsse, VTA spokesperson
Galindo said his restaurant used to generate between $800 to $1,100 during the first shift from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but now the average is $300. He said he’s had to cut his supplies and staff hours to make ends meet, and doesn’t generate enough revenue to even pay himself.
He’s hoping to hold out until VTA’s assistance program comes online, because the lack of revenue is unsustainable.
“We survived COVID, we survived the housing crisis back in ’08,” Galindo told San José Spotlight. “This right now is really to the point of, I don’t know if I’m going to survive this next couple months.”
B. Sakura Cannestra is a freelance reporter who previously worked at San José Spotlight through the California Local News Fellowship. Contact her at bsakuracannestra@gmail.com or @SakuCannestra on X.