The long wait for the opening of the Highway 25 bypass is
finally over. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Monday for the new
bypass, expected to open this week, with representatives from the
city, county and the council of governments there to honor the
achievement.
HOLLISTER
The long wait for the opening of the Highway 25 bypass is finally over. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Monday for the new bypass, expected to open this week, with representatives from the city, county and the council of governments there to honor the achievement.
“It was a great success,” pronounced Lisa Rheinheimer, executive director with the San Benito County Council of Governments, which oversaw the project.
Around 100 people showed up to hear representatives from the involved agencies speak on this milestone decades in the waiting.
Although the road is not quite open, Rheinheimer said the contractor hopes to open it Friday. She added that Graniterock-Pavex is doing final testing on the traffic signals and other parts of the road and if the tests don’t go as planned, the agency will open the road next week.
“It will be a bit confusing at first, however,” Rheinheimer said.
County Supervisor Margie Barrios was at the ceremony Monday and said she was happy with the results.
“The ceremony went excellently. There were representatives, the people that started back in 1984, and that was what, to me, was very impressive,” Barrios said. “They had the history. They had the knowledge of how everything started, things that I didn’t know before I learned today.
“So that was really nice that we had representation from back in 1984 from people that were part of it back then.”
After the ribbon cutting, guests were treated to refreshments and were allowed to drive south on Highway 25 to exit on East Park Street.
Rheinheimer also shared her thoughts on the impact this will have for the county and the city.
“This project has been such a long time coming. There was a lot of planning and effort that went into this,” she said. “I think the biggest thing that it means for San Benito County is that there is a proper roadway to get people north and south. San Benito Street is certainly not adequate enough to handle all the traffic that it needs to. So I think it provides that north-south connection through the city.”
