<P> SR 85 was the first freeway in California to open with metering lights at every onramp, including interchanges with SR 17 and US 101 . When the freeway opened on October 19, 1994, the lights caused tremendous backups at the onramps during commute hours, raising an outcry from commuters furious at having to wait as much as 20 to 30 minutes in the worst cases before entering the freeway . The county required Caltrans to turn off the metering lights, which they did on November 17, 1994 . This almost immediately slowed the commute over the full 24 mile (39 km) stretch by 33 minutes; Caltrans eventually turned the lights back on in 1995, which sped up the overall commute considerably . </P> <P> In January 2009, several metering lights in the southern portion of SR 85 were reactivated . These included the SR 87 - to - SR 85 interchange, the Almaden Expressway on - ramps, and the Blossom Hill Road on - ramps . </P> <P> The freeway was constructed with a 46 - to - 50 - foot (14--15 m) wide center median . Initially, no barrier of any kind was installed in the median because, at the time, Caltrans regulations stated that any median wider than 45 feet (14 m) did not require a median barrier unless there was a history of head - on collisions . However, within the first year, one person died, and in a one - year period from 1996 to 1997, six more were killed in head - on collisions by cars crossing the median at high speeds . Public outcry convinced Caltrans to install the standard post-and - metal - beam barrier the entire length of the freeway and also to change their regulations so that median barriers are now required on all high - volume freeways with medians of less than 75 feet (23 m). Accidents and injuries dropped by roughly one - third in the first year after the barrier was installed . </P> <P> In 1998, California Highway Patrol officer Scott Greenly was struck by a car and killed while issuing a ticket on the shoulder of Route 85; thereafter the portion between Quito Road and Prospect Road in the City of Saratoga was named the CHP Officer Scott M. Greenly Memorial Freeway . On September 15, 2008, the remainder of the freeway, north of Prospect Road as well as south of Quito Road, was named in honor of former San Jose mayor, congressman, and United States Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta . </P>

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