City officials want state to fund repairs to Hwy. 25 before
swap
Hollister officials, upset by what they see as the state
reneging on a planned swap of the existing, state-controlled Hwy.
25 route through downtown for the locally-funded, year-old bypass,
are hoping to find a resolution through the California
Transportation Commission.
The City Council last week directed staff to send a letter to
the local Council of Governments indicating that the city wants the
state to agree to a relinquishment, rather than a route transfer,
which the state prefers.
City officials want state to fund repairs to Hwy. 25 before swap
Hollister officials, upset by what they see as the state reneging on a planned swap of the existing, state-controlled Hwy. 25 route through downtown for the locally-funded, year-old bypass, are hoping to find a resolution through the California Transportation Commission.
The City Council last week directed staff to send a letter to the local Council of Governments indicating that the city wants the state to agree to a relinquishment, rather than a route transfer, which the state prefers.
In a relinquishment, the state would take over the new road as a state highway and give the old state highway to the city “in a state of good repair,” which is what happened when the Hwy. 156 bypass was completed many years ago. The city estimates that the cost to repair the existing path through downtown and on Nash Road east to Airline Highway would be $2.5 million – which it says the state should fund.
Caltrans has noted it will only agree to a route transfer, in which the swap of roads occurs without the “state of good repair” stipulation, because the bypass was a locally-driven project, funded by a local tax measure, whereas the 156 bypass was a state-driven project. The transportation agency said it is willing to perform $125,000 worth of maintenance on the existing highway route, adding a “cape seal” on Nash/Tres Pinos Road from Rancho Drive west to San Benito Street and adding 21 handicapped-accessible ramps at intersections.
“Local people put all the money into (the bypass project) and now they’re getting stuck with the bill for Caltrans’ crappy old road,” said City Manager Clint Quilter, adding that the council’s direction is designed to get “COG to negotiate more aggressively” with the state for the relinquishment option.
While no formal, signed agreements exist between state and local agencies for that option, Quilter said “a number of commitments have been made along the way.”
Local pharmacist Steve Rosati, who was a member of the Measure A Committee that promoted the tax measure as a means for funding local road projects in the 1990s, encouraged the council to pursue state-funded repairs on the old highway route before agreeing to a transfer.
“We have a brand-new road that we’re going to be transferring over to Caltrans, while the old road has to be brought up to functionality, whatever that is,” he said. “We need to lobby the (transportation commission) and tell them our dilemma. It doesn’t hurt to ask. There’s not much more we can do at the local level; we can just go to Sacramento and present our information to them.”
Rosati said council resolutions related to the highway transfer issue were passed in the 90s to document that the city always intended to swap the old Hwy. 25 route for the new bypass as long as the state funded repaired to the old route.
“That was what the community expected,” he said. “So it puts more pressure on our elected officials to do everything they can to make that happen.”
Acknowledging that he is not expecting a quick answer from state officials, Rosati said the city offering to swap a brand-new, $54 million road for a route brought up to standards with $2.5 million in repairs by the state “seems fair to everybody. It would be a fair swap.”
“Things are different today financially for everybody, but we can’t do a transfer without getting some kind of commitment that something’s going to get done and what’s going to get done and when,” he said. “I feel it’s important to get there as soon as possible and get on the record within the next 60 days. The CTC will have a lot of issues facing them close to the summer, so we’d like to be on the books early.”
Mary Gilbert, transportation planning manager for COG, said the agency’s board will consider the city’s request for lobbying state officials at its Dec. 16 meeting.
“Caltrans has limited funding capability; we understand that,” she said. “The idea was to address the issue with another agency (the transportation commission) that might be able to come up with the money” to fund the needed repairs to the old highway route.
While she acknowledged that there were no formal agreements between Caltrans and the city saying the state would fully fund the repairs, “the COG board and the city believed Caltrans would bring the road up to a state of good repair.”
In a letter to Quilter last month, Hollister Downtown Association President Barbara Scott said the HDA board “sees no benefit in not allowing the transfer to occur.”
“It is the Board’s belief that the City of Hollister should cut their losses and move forward,” she wrote. “The vitality of our downtown is dependent on creating a pedestrian-friendly environment, which is not possible with a state highway running down the middle.”
The transfer of the downtown portion of Hwy. 25, she continued, would allow for additional pedestrian crosswalks and create opportunities for additional street closures for community events.
“That was what the community expected,” he said. “So it puts more pressure on our elected officials to do everything they can to make that happen.”
Acknowledging that he is not expecting a quick answer from state officials, Rosati said the city offering to swap a brand-new, $54 million road for a route brought up to standards with $2.5 million in repairs by the state “seems fair to everybody. It would be a fair swap.”
“Things are different today financially for everybody, but we can’t do a transfer without getting some kind of commitment that something’s going to get done and what’s going to get done and when,” he said. “I feel it’s important to get there as soon as possible and get on the record within the next 60 days. The CTC will have a lot of issues facing them close to the summer, so we’d like to be on the books early.”
Mary Gilbert, transportation planning manager for COG, said the agency’s board will consider the city’s request for lobbying state officials at its Dec. 16 meeting.
“Caltrans has limited funding capability; we understand that,” she said. “The idea was to address the issue with another agency (the transportation commission) that might be able to come up with the money” to fund the needed repairs to the old highway route.
While she acknowledged that there were no formal agreements between Caltrans and the city saying the state would fully fund the repairs, “the COG board and the city believed Caltrans would bring the road up to a state of good repair.”
In a letter to Quilter last month, Hollister Downtown Association President Barbara Scott said the HDA board “sees no benefit in not allowing the transfer to occur.”
“It is the Board’s belief that the City of Hollister should cut their losses and move forward,” she wrote. “The vitality of our downtown is dependent on creating a pedestrian-friendly environment, which is not possible with a state highway running down the middle.”
The transfer of the downtown portion of Hwy. 25, she continued, would allow for additional pedestrian crosswalks and create opportunities for additional street closures for community events.
News to You
The City of Hollister is asking the San Benito County Council of Governments to ask the state to fund repairs to the existing Hwy. 25 route through downtown Hollister before passing control of the new Hwy. 25 bypass to the state. Once the transfer occurs, the city will regain control of the downtown route, meaning it can make it more pedestrian-friendly and go through fewer hoops when shutting it down for local events such as parades and street festivals.
