With as many as 30,000 vehicles passing through the intersection
on a daily basis, the intersection of Highway 152 and Highway 156
is one of the busiest in the region.
Known to many local residents simply as the
”
Don Pacheco Y,
”
the intersection is often a test of patience and perseverance
for motorists headed between the Bay Area and the Central
Valley.
With as many as 30,000 vehicles passing through the intersection on a daily basis, the intersection of Highway 152 and Highway 156 is one of the busiest in the region.
Known to many local residents simply as the “Don Pacheco Y,” the intersection is often a test of patience and perseverance for motorists headed between the Bay Area and the Central Valley.
With an average daily volume of traffic ranging from 23,000 to 30,000 vehicles per day squeezing through what is primarily a two-lane highway, the roadway can easily become congested, creating long, snaking lines of bumper-to-bumper traffic that wind for miles in either direction.
“The intersection has been a problem, traffic-wise, for years,” California Highway Patrol Officer Teri Neidigh said.
One reason is the sheer volume of vehicles where even a small disruption in traffic flow can affect the road for miles.
“We have even gone out there to physically direct traffic and it doesn’t seem to do much good,” Neidigh said. “It’s just one of those intersections that we have to deal with.”
Congestion along the Pacheco Pass Highway increases considerably during the morning and evening commute, and on weekends, as more motorists travel to various destinations, such as Santa Cruz, the Monterey Bay area and San Jose, the volume only intensifies along the route.
“The Fourth of July and Labor Day are the two heaviest traffic times of the year,” Caltrans Public Information Officer Lauren Wonder said.
Despite the large volume of traffic flowing through the intersection, a relatively small number of accidents have taken place at the location during the past few years, according to CHP statistics.
Since January 2000, there have been 23 accidents at the intersection, including 13 that were minor collisions where only property was damaged. There were 10 accidents in which motorists or passengers were injured, and of those 10 injury accidents, one was a fatality, the CHP said.
And, the traffic congestion at the intersection and subsequently throughout one of the state’s primary east-west traffic corridors has not gone unnoticed by state traffic officials.
Wonder said the Valley Transit Authority has already started widening work along sections of Highway 152.
Known as Project B, phase one of the improvements project, which was just recently completed, includes the widening of Highway 152 from U.S. 101 to just west of Gilroy Foods, VTA Communications Specialist Brandi Hall said.
Phase II of the project, which is currently under construction, includes new ramps to southbound U.S. 101 from westbound Highway 152 and a ramp from southbound U.S. 101 to westbound 152 which should be completed by January 2004.
“They are currently in the preliminary engineering stages for a new Highway 152 and 156 interchange project,” Hall said.
A third phase of the project has been put on hold because of the state’s current budget crunch, Hall said.
Once funding from the state is intact, there will be several other projects on Highway 152.
“There are also plans to construct left-turn pockets and truck passing lanes along the highway,” Wonder said.
She said there also plans for a possible realignment of Highway 152 at Highway 156 that would make the traffic flow smoother and safer through the intersection.
Several of the recent accidents included a vehicle rollover that block a lane of traffic. Two Morgan Hill teenagers, whose names were not released because of their age, suffered minor injuries during the accident in the westbound lane of Highway 152 just west of the Don Pacheco Y.
For an unknown reason, the 17-year-old driver veered to the right, ran off the roadway, up a small embankment and then rolled over landing on its roof in the middle of the westbound lane, the CHP said. The youths were not transported to a hospital, the CHP said.
