City officials unveiled the Westside Boulevard extension/Nash
Road closure plan at a meeting Monday to the disappointment of a
San Benito High School official.
At the bi-monthly Hollister Traffic Safety Advisory Committee
meeting, the preliminary city engineers presented the conceptual
design plan to extend Westside Boulevard and close Nash Road by
SBHS. The design extends Westside along the San Benito River and
intersects it with San Benito Street south of SBHS’s football
field, said Luis Aguilar, assistant engineer for the City of
Hollister.
City officials unveiled the Westside Boulevard extension/Nash Road closure plan at a meeting Monday to the disappointment of a San Benito High School official.
At the bi-monthly Hollister Traffic Safety Advisory Committee meeting, the preliminary city engineers presented the conceptual design plan to extend Westside Boulevard and close Nash Road by SBHS. The design extends Westside along the San Benito River and intersects it with San Benito Street south of SBHS’s football field, said Luis Aguilar, assistant engineer for the City of Hollister.
“The plan is to divert traffic on the west side of the city and to relieve traffic congestion in downtown areas,” Aguilar said.
Westside would then be set up to connect with Southside Road in the future.
The plan also calls for closing one block of Nash Road from Monterey to West streets. SBHS District Superintendent Jean Burns Slater was disappointed because she hoped to close Nash from San Benito Street to Homestead Avenue. Aguilar said closing those streets wasn’t feasible because of residential houses in the vicinity of the school.
“The residents need access,” he said.
While Aguilar wouldn’t commit to a completion date, he did say, to the chagrin of Slater, the project could take five years.
“So, there’s no relief for years,” Slater said. “Where’s the good news?”
Slater asked why the one block of Nash couldn’t be closed on a temporary basis now.
Because the high school sits on county and city land, land would have to be annexed into the city to temporarily close the street during school days. Slater’s next step is talking to the county’s Council of Governments and Local Area Formation Commission to see where to go next.
The city is about 80 percent done with the Westside Boulevard extension/Nash Road closure conceptual design plan. The next two stages are design and construction. The City Council has not approved the plans, Aguilar said.
The traffic committee also discussed surveys, requests and complaints throughout Hollister. Currently, the engineering department is studying traffic at Beverly Drive and adjacent streets. Engineers are suggesting the Spruce Drive and Beverly Drive intersection be upgraded from a two-way to four-way stop.
In regards to schools, the committee discussed a red curb in front of Marguerite Maze Middle School because of the amount of parents who park on Meridian Street instead of driving through the school’s circular drop-off/pick-up spot, and ways to stop parents from dropping off students on Walnut Lane by R.O. Hardin School so residents can pull out of their driveways in the morning.
Also, the committee talked about the need for a crosswalk across the middle of Rancho Drive in front of Rancho San Justo Middle School.
“It would save us a whole lot of concern,” said Donald Knapp, principal at Rancho. “It’s just a matter of time before something awful happens.”
Officials asked about putting in a safe way for students to cross Nash Road by Rancho. Because there is no crosswalk, Rancho students are running across Nash and darting through traffic. The committee discussed a crosswalk at Nash and Rancho Drive and Nash and Cushman Street.
The engineering department will study the necessity and impact on traffic of stop signs or stoplights at the intersections.
The traffic committee is made up of representatives from schools, the community, the California Department of Transportation, the Sheriff’s Department, the Hollister Police Department, the city’s engineering department and the county Council of Governments.
The committee’s next meeting is Nov. 24 at 11 a.m. at the City Hall Council Chambers, 375 Fifth St. Meetings are open to the public.
