Plans to create new east-west route in north Hollister awaits
funding
The long-planned extension of North Street along the north side
of Park Hill remains on hold as the city exhausted all of its
traffic impact fee money on the Hwy. 25 bypass project.
But planning continues for the street, which eventually will
connect North to Buena Vista Road at Locust Avenue near the I.O.O.F
cemetery.
Plans to create new east-west route in north Hollister awaits funding
The long-planned extension of North Street along the north side of Park Hill remains on hold as the city exhausted all of its traffic impact fee money on the Hwy. 25 bypass project.
But planning continues for the street, which eventually will connect North to Buena Vista Road at Locust Avenue near the I.O.O.F cemetery.
The Hollister City Council last week approved an agreement to have a consultant update the project plans and specifications, including re-starting the coordination process with utility companies to put existing overhead utility lines underground. The consultant will also do geotechnical work.
North Street currently runs a couple blocks west from San Benito Street at Santa Ana Road and also starts on the west side of Park Hill at Buena Vista. The proposed project, plans for which date back nearly three decades, call for the two sections to be connected to give motorists an alternate route from San Felipe to Hollister’s west side.
Planners believe that would relieve traffic congestion downtown – particularly at San Benito and Fourth streets, which is the main thoroughfare for east-west traffic in town.
City Manager Clint Quilter said extending the agreement with the consultant is an effort to keep the North Street extension project moving while the city awaits funding for the projected $795,000 project.
“We were good to go – then the county and COG (Council of Governments) needed money when the Hwy. 25 bypass turned from a $20 million to a $50 million project,” he said.
The city council voted to “de-fund” the North Street extension in order to transfer that money to the bypass project. Now, the city must wait “for the economy to turn around and people to start building again” before it has enough traffic impact fee money from developers to fund the extension.
