Another major player has been added to the effort to build toll
roads streamlining the connection between U.S. 101 and the San
Joaquin Valley by providing an alternate route to the Pacheco Pass
Highway.
Another major player has been added to the effort to build toll roads streamlining the connection between U.S. 101 and the San Joaquin Valley by providing an alternate route to the Pacheco Pass Highway.
Merced County is positioned to add its political and economic muscle to the planned $1.5 billion Highway 152 Trade Corridor project that would connect Highway 101 to Highway 99.
To help pay for the project, the proposal calls for toll booths in addition to state funding. The project still consists of 10 different options to toll the road – which were released in April – including setting up booths only on the eastern side or throughout the road.
The Santa Clara County Valley Transportation Authority will meet Sept. 30 with the Mobility Partnership and San Benito Council of County Governments to discuss adding Merced County representatives to the partnership, said COG Executive Director Lisa Rheinheimer.
“It’s important to have all the counties along the corridor to be included in the process,” Rheinheimer said. “When you look at the corridor, it’s hard to stop at jurisdictional boundaries. Commuters and truckers don’t see when the boundaries end.”
This comes after a decision in recent months that identified the area of land where the proposed highway would travel – possibly aligning with the California High Speed Rail pathway.
The identified area of land is the western portion of the proposed highway – which would start at Highway 101, run through Santa Clara County, cut through the northern tip of San Benito County and end at Highway 156.
In April, the VTA presented the 152 realignment proposal to the Mobility Partnership, which includes Gilroy Mayor Al Pinhiero, San Benito County Supervisors Pat Loe and Anthony Botelho and Don Gage, Santa Clara County supervisor.
No actual route has been selected because the area of land still needs to pass the environmental portion, Gage said.
“You can’t select a defined set of roads until the environmental report,” Gage said. “All we can show is the area where it is going to go.”
The addition of Merced County to the project will also allow the project to receive more money from the state, Gage said. He added that with more support from the counties directly involved with the project, it offers a better chance to get more funding.
The VTA is also looking into possibly sharing the same corridor with the High Speed Rail project that would flow through north San Benito County, VTA spokeswoman Brandi Childress said. The proposal though will depend on the route chosen by the California High Speed Rail Authority.
In the meantime, the VTA is preparing its corridor report at the end of the month that will be an expansion of the presentation given in April, with no new information but “just more text,” said John Ristow, VTA’s chief congestion management agency officer. The report is one of the final steps before the project goes into the environmental review process next year.
Merced County’s eastern portion of the roadway will connect to Highway 99, and that project is far more advanced in the process than the western side that includes San Benito and Santa Clara counties, Ristow said. The Merced County portion has already passed an environmental report – the western roadway won’t enter the environmental stages until next year.
Merced County is in the process of selecting the best routes that will feed into San Benito County from Highway 99.
