The Highway 25 bypass could be a double-edged sword.
Transportation officials have been working for decades on
winning approval of the plan that would divert traffic around the
downtown district, but they may not have realized the design of the
bypass might be an idea that time has passed.
The Highway 25 bypass could be a double-edged sword.
Transportation officials have been working for decades on winning approval of the plan that would divert traffic around the downtown district, but they may not have realized the design of the bypass might be an idea that time has passed.
The 2.6-mile, four-lane roadway would extend east from the Highway 25 and San Felipe Road intersection then turn south to cross Santa Ana Road, Meridian Street and Hillcrest Road. The bypass would then become a six-lane road connecting with Airline Highway at the Sunnyslope-Tres Pinos Road intersection.
When the bypass was first publicly conceived in the 1959 Hollister General Plan as a way of reducing downtown traffic congestion, much of the traffic came from trucks and cars traveling to the Pinnacles National Monument and other points in the southern part of the county. Most of the city’s population was centered near or around the downtown area.
Ridgemark was still a turkey farm. There was no Marguerite Maze Middle School. Nearly all of the land between McCray Street, Prospect Avenue and Memorial Drive was orchards. Everything east of Memorial Drive was still county jurisdiction.
Since the first designs were approved, a large portion of the city’s population has moved east and south of downtown. The bypass, coupled with Union Road’s southern path around the city, could provide no reason for residents to enter the downtown district.
Add to that, the growth of retail businesses in the southeast section of the city, the need to do business along San Benito Street could be eliminated entirely.
On the other hand, the bypass could provide the city an opportunity to restructure and redesign the downtown corridor with things like narrowing San Benito Street to two lanes and widening sidewalks with a more rustic cobblestone style that would promote a more vibrant business atmosphere.
Storefronts could also redesign their store fronts and such things as street-side cafes, a book store and theater could be added to help draw residents downtown into the night hours.
While the bypass is needed, city officials and community leaders must also work diligently toward the revitalization of the downtown district.
