Mayor Matt Mahan Deploys Speed Safety Camera Program Across 33 Corridors and Secures 500-Acre Coyote Valley Preservation

San Jose Rolls Out Automated Speed Safety Camera Network Across 33 High-Injury Corridors

SAN JOSE, California — Stepping forward as a national trailblazer in automated municipal traffic safety in late October 2026, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and Vice Mayor Pam Foley officially launched the city’s landmark Speed Safety Camera Program. Authorized under landmark California legislation (Assembly Bill 645), the Department of Transportation completed installation of automated camera systems across 33 prioritized street segments historically plagued by severe speed-related collisions and pedestrian injuries, including major segments of Monterey Road, Alum Rock Avenue, and Capitol Expressway.

The initiative begins with an educational 60-day warning period to encourage driver behavior change, after which automated citations ranging from $50 to $500 will be issued to motorists traveling 11 miles per hour or more over posted speed limits. Mayor Mahan stressed that technology-driven accountability is the single most effective tool to protect school zones and eliminate preventable roadway fatalities across Silicon Valley.

City Council Locks in 500-Acre Permanent Conservation Easement in Coyote Valley

Simultaneously advancing environmental preservation, Mayor Mahan partnered with District 10 Councilmember George Casey to secure a legally binding, perpetual conservation easement protecting over 500 acres of pristine open space surrounding the historic IBM Almaden Research Center site in South San Jose's environmentally sensitive Coyote Valley. While the property’s existing 35-acre industrial footprint undergoes modernization into sustainable digital infrastructure, the remaining open hillside and riparian corridors are permanently protected from commercial sprawl.

Conservation advocates praised the legal compromise, highlighting that preserving contiguous open spaces protects critical wildlife migratory corridors for bobcats, badgers, and endangered burrowing owls between the Santa Cruz and Diablo mountain ranges.

Enhanced El Niño Storm Defense and Creek Channel Resiliency

Addressing regional climate resilience ahead of winter weather forecasts, municipal public works crews and Valley Water engineers finalized extensive dredging, debris clearing, and automated flood telemetry sensor upgrades along Coyote Creek and the Guadalupe River, fortifying vulnerable residential neighborhoods from storm surges and urban localized flooding.