After weeks of feuding over a $33 million flyover design to fix
the notorious Don Pacheco Y, Supervisor Pat Loe and Santa Clara
Valley Transportation officials say a solution may be reached
soon.
Hollister – After weeks of feuding over a $33 million flyover design to fix the notorious Don Pacheco Y, Supervisor Pat Loe and Santa Clara Valley Transportation officials say a solution may be reached soon.
The change in tone between the two agencies, which have been squabbling over which is the best design for a flyover to fix the dangerous intersection, came after San Benito County Council of Governments board members Pat Loe and Pauline Valdivia traveled to Sacramento on Monday. During the meeting they discussed their concerns that the VTA’s design will funnel more truck traffic into San Benito County, potentially harming local roads.
Last week, COG passed a resolution supporting the flyover design preferred by the VTA, which would connect westbound 152 directly to 156, with the condition that the VTA and Caltrans provide funds to San Benito to repair and improve county roads that might be affected by an increase of traffic. Loe, who has been vocal in her displeasure with the flyover design, has been trying to get either the VTA or Caltrans to commit to funding improvement or repairs for roads that might be affected by increased traffic for several weeks.
Also, the resolution requests a formal memorandum of understanding between COG, Caltrans and the VTA to deal with this and future transportation issues. According to Loe, county staff is working with its VTA counterpart to come up with some agreement between the two agencies.
“We carried two messages: We do not want to stop the flyover, but we also need to plan for the safety of the people of San Benito County,” Loe said, adding that she thinks COG, Caltrans and the VTA may come to some agreement within the next few weeks.
Roads that might be affected by the flyover and need repair or improvement in the future include Shore and Frazier roads and Highway 25, Loe said. Loe said she had no specifics about how future improvements might be funded.
The VTA, which has maintained that it does not believe the flyover will result in more traffic using local roads, will likely agree to enter into an MOU with San Benito County, if it is able to provide input on what it should include, according to VTA Communications Manager Jayme Kunz.
Kunz also said that if San Benito County did receive more traffic after the flyover is built, the VTA is open to working with the county.
“If there was a significant increase resulting from the 152 project, which we do not believe there will be, we would be willing to discuss and work with San Benito County to deal with those issues,” Kunz said.
Supervisors Tuesday formally endorsed the flyover project for the Don Pacheco Y, while supporting the San Benito County Council of Government’s efforts to seek funding to repair and improve local roads.
Though supervisors have said individually that they are in favor of the flyover, Tuesday’s action was the first formal resolution in support of the project.
Valdivia said Monday’s meeting, during which they discussed their concerns about the possibility of increased traffic on county roads, was a good first step toward creating a cooperative partnership with Caltrans and Santa Clara County.
“It went very well. They heard our concerns,” she said. “We still have to continue to work with them.”
The intersection at highways 152 and 156 has long been an inconvenience for motorists traveling between Interstate 5 and Highway 101. Westbound motorists who want to get onto Highway 156 from 152 now have to make a left hand turn and cut across moving traffic, creating a safety issue and delays.
Good Samaritan motorists often stop to let traffic turn left on to 156, which can cause get-away weekend traffic to back up 13 miles to Gilroy.
Luke Roney covers politics and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at
lr****@fr***********.com
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