Caltrans officials faced a tough crowd Wednesday night as they
tried to get San Juan Bautista residents on board with a project to
widen a stretch of Highway 156 that runs through their
community.
San Juan Bautista – Caltrans officials faced a tough crowd Wednesday night as they tried to get San Juan Bautista residents on board with a project to widen a stretch of Highway 156 that runs through their community.
About 30 people, including residents and city and county officials, gathered at Community Hall in San Juan Bautista for a forum that Caltrans District 5 officials had hoped would be the first step toward working through concerns about the project and reaching consensus with the community. Many in attendance were vocal about their opposition to plans to widen Highway 156 between the City of San Juan and the outskirts of Hollister, saying it would destroy the historic town and ruin the prime agricultural lands of the San Juan Valley.
“It’s not just that it’s a small town. It’s a small town full of history, and you don’t have that very much in California,” said Tanya Arterburn, who moved to San Juan Bautista from Santa Clara County two years ago. “If I wanted to live in Silicon Valley, I would have stayed in Silicon Valley,” she added.
Caltrans is proposing three alternatives for widening Highway 156 – a project that the San Juan Bautista City Council has officially opposed since 2004. In addition to causing inconvenient delays for drivers, congestion on the current two-lane highway creates a safety hazard as quick moving motorists intermingle with slow trucks and tractors that also use the road, according to Caltrans.
“Today more than ever an east/west route like (Highway) 156 is critical to California,” said Caltrans District 5 Deputy Director Rick Krumholz, adding that the highway also needed to be wider to accommodate traffic from trucks hauling goods.
“The economy of the state runs on those trucks,” he said.
In the last decade, traffic on Highway 156 has increased to more than 24,000 vehicles a day – up from 15,000 per day in 1995, according to Krumholz.
One option for widening the road calls for turning 156 into a four-lane highway with an unpaved median between opposing lanes. The two additional lanes included in this alternative, which has a $21 million price tag, would be constructed to the south of the existing roadway.
A second alternative entails building a new four-lane expressway to the south of the existing highway, which would become a two-lane frontage road. Drivers would be able to access the $39 million expressway at Mission Vineyard, Bixby and Union-Mitchell roads.
A final $40 million alternative calls for a similar expressway to the south of the existing highway. But it would have frontage roads on both sides and only two access points – one at Mission Vineyard Road and a second at Union Mitchell Road.
Caltrans and the San Benito County Council of Governments have put together $14.6 million dollars for the project, and need to look to state and federal sources to get the remainder.
Many of those who attended Wednesday’s forum were in support of leaving Highway 156 alone and pursuing a 3-in-1 alternative, which would build a four to six-lane freeway from Highway 101 to the intersection of highways 152 and 156. Santa Clara County’s recently released Southern Gateway Transportation and Land Use Study includes a similar scenario. The San Juan Bautista City Council has sent Caltrans a letter supporting Santa Clara’s version of the 3-in-1.
Krumholz said that Caltrans is in the midst of traffic studies to see if a 3-in-1-type option would be viable. But at the same time he said that such a project would cost a billion dollars and construction on what he called a “super freeway” could not be done in phases.
“Pretty much you have to build the whole thing in one $1 billion shot,” he said.
Supervisor Anthony Botelho, who represents San Juan, has been a strong proponent of the 3-in-1 since before he was elected to office. He said he wasn’t daunted by the price tag Krumholz put on that option.
“The San Juan Valley is worth $1 billion,” he said, garnering a round of applause from his fellow attendees. “I’ll do every thing in my power as your supervisor to work for the $1 billion solution.”
Botelho, who also sits on the COG Board of Directors, said he would try to convince the rest of COG’s directors that a 3-in-1 is the way to go.
With Caltrans planning to release a draft environmental impact report for the Highway 156 widening project by next summer, many at Wednesday’s meeting didn’t think that agency was sincere about addressing the community’s concerns.
“I think they are categorically insincere,” said county Planning Commissioner Daniel Devries, who represents in the San Juan area. “It’s evidenced by the fact that they’re pursuing this project without looking into viable alternatives.”
Luke Roney covers local government and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at [email protected]
