Letter: Bay boom in Hollister

The Bay Area boom and high costs are driving demand for housing in cities that are still affordable, so once again, Hollister is on a development spree. And just as with previous building sprees, the city is doing little to address serious infrastructure problems, primarily roads leading to/from Hollister.
Anyone who commutes out of town has seen their travel time on Highway 25 or 156 increase dramatically in the last few years and is dreading what is inevitably going to happen when all the new homes being built are occupied. With the 1,200-home East of Fairview development alone, the traffic on these roads will likely become intolerable and there are smaller developments going up all over the area.
Most know about the recent fatalities on 25 and the regular stop-and-go traffic during commute hours. Imagine what it will be like with another 1,500 to 2,000 cars every day. I fully expect that it will take 30 to 45 minutes to drive the 10 miles from 101 to Hollister in the next couple of years.
So what is the city doing to address this? Apparently nothing. There is still no timeline for widening either of the main routes into Hollister and there doesn’t seem to be much attention being paid to lobbying the state to come up with one. I suspect our city and county leaders mainly work in Hollister and aren’t affected by this much but they should realize that most residents are.
Besides commuting aspects, there are also issues within Hollister itself. What is going to happen at already busy intersections like Sunnyslope and Valley View or Hillcrest and Memorial? In previous development booms the city failed to address the overburdened water treatment plant and it eventually resulted in a building moratorium that lasted many years. I hope that the roads leading to/from Hollister don’t become so dangerous that it comes to that, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Mark West, Hollister