Task force studying safety makes its long-awaited
recommendations, including a plan for concrete barriers
Should San Benito County leaders make Highway 25 safe with
nearly $14 million in improvements now, or should they hope for
nearly $200 million to magically appear for a widening project?
One influential member of COG says the region can’t afford to
wait for the financially troubled state to widen the highway that
links Hollister and Gilroy and demanded immediate safety
improvements.
Task force studying safety makes its long-awaited recommendations, including a plan for concrete barriers
Should San Benito County leaders make Highway 25 safe with nearly $14 million in improvements now, or should they hope for nearly $200 million to magically appear for a widening project?
One influential member of COG says the region can’t afford to wait for the financially troubled state to widen the highway that links Hollister and Gilroy and demanded immediate safety improvements.
“One hundred and ninety nine million. We are not important enough, unfortunately, because of our population base to attract that kind of money,” said Supervisor Richard Scagliotti. “We cannot wait any longer. The blood of those people is on our hands. We need to get this project moving.”
The blood Scagliotti was referring to was that of the 20 people who have died on the road since February 2002. He wants COG to jumpstart a recommendation made by the Highway 25 Task Force to lay down concrete median barriers now instead of hoping the county can secure the multi-millions needed to widen the highway a decade from now.
The task force, chaired by CHP Capt. Bob Davies, made its recommendations last week at a meeting of the Council of Governments, the joint city/county transportation agency.
The task force made four key recommendations for COG to consider: speed up the timetable for a four-lane highway; build a concrete barrier; improve the road’s intersections; and cut down the number of private driveways feeding into the highway. Right now, there are 27 driveways, 10 to 20 farm roads and eight intersections.
Davies also gave the “All Improvements Alternative,” so-named because it includes every conceivable safety improvement short of widening the road.
The task force wants something done about the dangerous road, where there are an average of 70 collisions annually. Most of the fatal accidents involve cars swerving into oncoming traffic. Davies said that since creation of a two-foot median with a rumble strip, accidents have dropped. Even so, four lives were lost this year on the two-lane road between U.S. 101 and Hollister.
“The road continues to have growth, the road continues to have accidents,” Davies said.
A $6.2 million safety-improvement project was finished earlier this year, including the rumble strip and wider shoulders. But many more improvements must be made, Davies said.
The all improvements option would cost nearly $14 million and be funded primarily with money set aside by the Hollister Redevelopment Agency. Before any formal action to proceed or drop the project, a public hearing must be scheduled during a COG meeting, which hasn’t yet happened. The City of Hollister also must approve whatever option is chosen since redevelopment money will be used.
The all improvements option proposes laying four miles of concrete barrier at three locations between the stretches of the GX-Miller Railroad tracks to Shore Road, Shore Road to Hudner Lane and Flynn Road to Wright Road at a cost $5.49 million. Intersection improvements would cost another $6.9 million and include tweaking Shore Road, Bolsa Road, Hudner Lane, Briggs Road both east and west, Flynn Road and Wright Road. The plan also cuts down the number of driveways, for example, by having Uesugi Farms and Z-Best consolidate theirs onto an access road instead of Highway 25.
Assuming a consensus was reached that $199 million is impossible to get from the state to widen the road, the all improvements option could begin by the middle of 2004 and be finished by the middle of 2005.
Davies cautioned, however, that the plan is not without its drawbacks. Laying concrete barriers on a two-lane road gives drivers less space to correct when they over-steer and the number of minor accidents might go up as a result. Additionally, any driver hitting the end of a concrete median barrier going more than 45 mph is almost guaranteed to be seriously injured.
If money were found to widen the highway, given the $20-plus billion deficit the state is facing, then many of the safety improvements would last no more than a few years.
That makes COG member Tony Bruscia a bit hesitant.
“I just don’t understand well enough what the time frames are,” he said. “This is something that needs to happen. We’re talking about a vital issue, we’re not talking about some pork barrel project.”
