GILROY
–– The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is expected to
spend $11.7 million in federal funds next month to fix a notorious
bottleneck at the intersection of state highways 152 and 156 in
Pacheco Pass.
GILROY –– The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is expected to spend $11.7 million in federal funds next month to fix a notorious bottleneck at the intersection of state highways 152 and 156 in Pacheco Pass.
This is the final piece of funding needed build a “flyover” ramp to smooth traffic flow at the “Don Pacheco Y” junction – a linchpin in the popular 152 connection between the Silicon and Central valleys.
Construction of the ramp is projected to begin in 2006 and finish in 2008.
The project was promised in 1996 ballot Measure B, but the half-cent sales tax couldn’t cover the costs. Many feared it would be further delayed after the cash-strapped state rejected funding for it earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the long backups caused by the intersection continued to annoy drivers, many of whom use Pacheco Pass as they travel between the Bay Area and Southern California via Interstate 5.
Untangling the 152-156 knot is the top priority for the MTC, an agency that plans Bay Area transportation projects and allocates federal funding to nine counties. The project is planned to receive more funding than any other in the $60 million spending plan.
“I think this ended up being one of the top priorities in the state, not just the Bay Area,” said Jim Beall, a MTC Commissioner and Santa Clara County supervisor whose district includes the cities of Santa Clara, Campbell and parts of San Jose and Cupertino.
Beall said other MTC commissioners were sold on the project because it would relieve a longtime danger zone and would actually complete a project, not start a new one.
“The backup’s just terrible; everybody realized that,” Beall said. “This project is really ready to go.”
The flyover ramp would cost $23 million, according to Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority officials. Caltrans and the VTA have committed state dollars to cover the remainder, according to Beall and the VTA.
The VTA has also trimmed $12 million in expenses; in October, the ramp was predicted to cost $35 million.
“This would complete the funding picture,” Beall said. “It was a surprise that we were able to do that, given the fact that there are big state budget cutbacks in the area of transportation.”
“I wasn’t surprised,” said Don Gage, the VTA chairman and a Santa Clara County supervisor from South County. “Remember, a while back, when I told you I was going to find the money someplace? … Well, here it is.”
The reason the MTC made 152-156 its top priority, Gage said, “was because we (at the VTA) wanted it to be a top priority.
“I insisted that, before we spend money in other areas, we finish up what we said were going to do with Measure B,” Gage said. “(U.S. Rep.) Richard Pombo (R-Stockton), I met with him, and he was very influential in this as well.”
“Caltrans submitted the request, the VTA supported it, and we (at the MTC) allocated the money,” Beall said. “That’s how it worked.”
VTA officials have already begun designing the flyover ramp. They unveiled two possible bridge options at an Oct. 1 public meeting. One idea has the bridge being the eastbound 152 lane. In the other, it would be the left-turn lane from 152 west to 156 south.
Each of these lanes backs up as westbound cars try to turn left from 152 onto 156 south toward Hollister. During heavy traffic, “good Samaritan” motorists heading east on 152 from Gilroy often stop at the intersection – although they have no stop or yield sign – to let stacked-up westbound drivers make the turn. This can cause eastbound cars and trucks to back up all the way to Gilroy, about 13 miles.
At peak times during evenings and weekends, an average of 4,100 vehicles per hour pass through the Pacheco Y, according to Caltrans data obtained in the fall. The daily average is 53,000 vehicles. Highway 152 is popular because it is one of the few connections between the coastal region and the Central Valley and I-5. There is no other for 50 miles to the north or 30 miles to the south.
“Since I was a kid, it was treacherous, … before all the traffic started building up,” said Beall, who grew up in Hollister and has family there. “This is something I’ve dreamed about for a long time.”
“That’s one of the most dangerous places in the whole area,” Gage said. Highway 152 is in Gage’s supervisory district, and complaints about it have been directed to him since he took office. He hopes someday soon to make 152 four lanes all the way from Gilroy to the top of Pacheco Pass at the Merced County line – a winding, 26-mile mountain road that is now largely two-lane. This project would cost more than $100 million, he said.
“And then (152) will be complete,” he said.
While the Pacheco Y does cause gridlock, it is not the most dangerous intersection on 152. In the first nine months of 2003, there were almost twice as many wrecks at 152’s intersection with Lover’s Lane, less than three miles west of the Y – 13 crashes compared with seven at the Y, according to the California Highway Patrol. There have been two fatal wrecks at the Y since January 2000.
