Some things change over the course of five years. The San Jose Sharks are playing in a Stanley Cup Final at last – even if it’s not going too well at the moment. The San Jose Earthquakes are playing in a new stadium next to the airport. The city has a new mayor, and sometime next year, it will have a new BART extension.

But other things don’t change. Even though it’s been five years since the San José neighborhoods of Gardner and Willow Glen last discussed the high speed rail project, the choice of a northern Initial Operating Segment means the issue of how to get the HSR tracks from Diridon Station to the Monterey Highway alignment is back on the table.

When we last checked in on this matter, residents wanted a tunnel and the California High Speed Rail Authority was exploring the idea.

Last night, tunnel supporters showed up at an open house and made it clear they still want an underground route south of Diridon Station:

Residents of the tiny, triangular neighborhood squeezed in by two freeways and the Caltrain/Union Pacific tracks who spoke at Monday’s open house would prefer under as a first choice and through as the last. But under is the most expensive option because it would involve building a separate station for high-speed trains deep underground in a place where the water table is high. Through is the cheapest, because trains are already using the railroad tracks along the neighborhood’s southern border. But it would introduce much more train traffic at grade crossings. “We are discussing the tunnel option within the confines of this environmental review,” Ben Tripousis, the rail system’s Northern California regional director, told the audience.

So basically, we really are picking up just where we left off. Fun!

The Silicon Valley Business Journal article also discussed some local objections to an overhead viaduct:

The over option was the second most popular and would involve a bridge going over the I-280 interchange with the Guadalupe Parkway. But this option has already met with objections from businesses like the San Jose Sharks and residents north of Diridon because it would require a viaduct to carry elevated high-speed tracks all the way to Santa Clara before blending with the Caltrain line at ground level to San Francisco.

I’m not sure why the Sharks would care, as their arena is indoors, but whatever.

Looking at the map of the neighborhood above, it’s clear that the real problem here isn’t trains, but cars.

Downtown San José has been carved up by four different freeways – 87, 101, 280, 880 – and the Gardner neighborhood got screwed worse than almost any other place in the city. Caught between two freeways and the train tracks, it’s cut off from the rest of the city. Willow Glen, south of the tracks, is not quite as bad off but it still suffers from the same freeway-induced disconnections.

The 87/280 interchange alone takes up nearly as much space as the Gardner neighborhood. The freeways completely block access to downtown, and leave just one connection between Gardner and the Diridon Station area. There are four street crossings of the tracks, three of which are grade separated. The fourth, West Virginia Street, is at-grade.

The tracks were there before the neighborhood. But the neighborhood was there before the freeways. I don’t know how Gardner residents reacted to the 87 and 280 freeways, but I can’t imagine they were too happy. Still, an improved and fully grade separated set of tracks would seem to be more useful than an overhead viaduct – and less expensive than a tunnel. Many of those grade separations look pretty old, and could use an upgrade.

That said, a tunnel from Diridon Station to the Monterey Highway alignment would be in a straighter line, meaning the trains could accelerate more quickly and save a couple minutes of travel time.

Ideally we’d be talking about ripping out the freeways, but from what I can see, either a surface route with new grade separations or a tunnel would be the best solution for everyone.