A $1.3 million road project that would make driving a little
smoother is expected to be approved by the San Benito County Board
of Supervisors Tuesday.
A $1.3 million road project that would make driving a little smoother is expected to be approved by the San Benito County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
The proposed improvement project would extend the life of several deteriorating sections of heavily traveled local roadways with a series of overlay plans. The Board is scheduled to consider the project at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The series of improvement projects would include:
San Felipe Road from Shore Road to Highway 156;
Fallon Road from Fairview Road to the Hollister city limit;
East Fallon Road from Fairview Road to Spring Grove Road;
McCloskey Road from Fairview Road to the Hollister city limit;
Santa Ana Road from Fairview Road to the Hollister city limit.
The roadways project was made possible because the Public Works Department kept costs down on earlier road projects, said Peter Corn, assistant director of Public Works.
The savings came largely from having county crews doing the overlay work instead of paying a construction company to complete it.
“The savings to the county is substantial,” Corn said. “We’ll supply most of the labor.”
During last year’s budget hearings, the Board allocated a total of $2.3 million for local road repair and overlay projects.
County Public Works Director Doug Koenig initially gave supervisors two suggestions for using about $1.3 million in funds from several state grants to repair local roadways.
The first option was to complete repairs on San Justo Road from Lucy Brown Road to San Juan Highway. That project came in under the projected $1.34 million budget at a cost of approximately $755,000.
Public Works officials estimated they can complete this second road project with an additional $1 million.
“We will do San Justo Road in the fall and the rest of the roads in the spring,” Koenig said.
The $1 million the Board would allocate for the road repairs would come from the $8 million to $9 million the county received from the tobacco settlement lawsuit.
The funds were part of the $23.5 million promised to the county from the 1999 settlement against four major U.S. tobacco companies.
In May, the county made an agreement to receive a lump sum portion of the $23.5 million now rather than risk not receiving any of the money later.
