Hollister
– The California Department of Transportation is preparing a new
study that could support plans to expand Highways 25, 156 and
152.
Hollister – The California Department of Transportation is preparing a new study that could support plans to expand Highways 25, 156 and 152.
According to the San Benito and Santa Clara Counties System Analysis Study, local commuters will see heavy traffic congestion on all local highways during peak hours if new highways or lanes aren’t built before 2030.
Lisa Rheinheimer, executive director of the San Benito County Council of Governments, said the new study “verifies the science behind the Southern Gateway study” prepared by the Valley Transportation Authority in 2003.
Aileen Loe, Caltrans’ deputy district director of planning, emphasized that the study will present data, not recommendations. But of the three options presented so far, the expansion of the three local highways has the best benefit-to-cost ratio.
Both the San Benito County Board of Supervisors and COG’s board of directors approved resolutions in 2006 stating that widening of Highways 152, 25 and 156 is the region’s top transportation priority. Rheinheimer said Tuesday there’s nothing in the study to direct COG in “any different direction than where we’re headed.”
And Supervisor Don Marcus, who sits on COG’s board of directors, said the study seems to back local plans to widen Highways 25 and 156 as soon as possible.
“Those are really the priorities,” he said.
The study won’t be finished until late fall, Loe said. But proponents of plans to build a new freeway that would reroute traffic from existing highways have said they aren’t impressed with what they’ve seen of the study so far.
Supervisor Anthony Botelho, who also sits on the COG board, wasn’t able to weigh in on the study at the last board meeting because he owns land along Highway 156. But he told the Free Lance he thinks the study is “very slanted.”
“There’s no question there could be a tremendous benefit for San Benito County if the focus routes were combined into one freeway system through the Bolsa corridor,” Botelho said. “The sooner we arrive at that as our goal, which I think we’re politically evolving towards, the sooner we can start looking at funding mechanisms.”
Local farmer Greg Swett, who also has been an advocate for the “three-in-one” highway, was similarly skeptical of the study.
“You’re not as safe with three highways than you are with one,” Swett said, “because the one is a freeway, which has a much lower death rate.”
How much does this matter to the average commuter? Hollister resident Ken Fuller used to commute to San Jose every day, and he still makes the drive to Gilroy several times a week. Fuller said he doesn’t care about the politics of the decision, as long as Highways 25 and 101 are expanded soon to alleviate worsening traffic.
“I’m glad I only have to drive that road three days per week,” he said.
Fuller added that the local government needs to make sure developers are funding their share of highway construction.
According to the Caltrans study, funding constraints will prevent the completion of all the highway projects for 50 years or more.
“It’s a long time,” Rheinheimer said. “The bottom line is that we have big needs in San Benito County and very little funding.”
If San Benito County residents want state and federal funding for highways, local leaders need to make sure they’re all on the same page and “bring local funding to the table” through development impact fees and tax dollars, Rheinheimer said.
