By Scott Fuller
Too often we don’t acknowledge when something goes right in our
community.
Too often we don’t acknowledge when something goes right in our community.
It is timely to spotlight the recent work of the board and staff of San Benito County’s Council of Governments. They are moving forward on a south Santa Clara County/San Benito County mobility partnerships program with the leaders of the Valley Transportation Authority.
This regional cooperation can have a big payoff for not only San Benito County residents in the form of better area roads, but for our businesses as well, in the form of the transportation infrastructure necessary to ensure efficient commerce and attract more visitors and tourism dollars to our community.
The mobility partnership program is a two-county effort that is the key to safety, mobility and connectivity of San Benito County and the Bay Area. The mobility partnership is leveraging a system of transportation infrastructure across two countries, two Caltrans districts, and an urban and rural area to provide a legacy of mobility for the future.
This groundbreaking collaboration provides San Benito County with a seat at the main table with our neighbors to the north.
We must applaud this effort and cheer on its continued progress.
Specifically, the mobility partnership, together with Caltrans, has submitted for state bond funding the U.S. Highway 101 South Corridor Improvement Project.
This project upgrades U.S. 101 to six lanes from Monterey Road in Gilroy to the Highway 25 interchange, reconstructs the Highway 101-Highway 25 interchange, and widens Highway 25 to four lanes in Santa Clara County.
These will greatly improve safety, mobility, goods movement and especially connectivity between counties.
Similarly, the partnership is supporting Caltrans’ submittal of the Highway 156 improvement project. This project provides for widening of Highway 156 from a two-lane road to a four-lane road, improving both mobility and safety on this facility.
We must work to make sure this project has the fewest impacts on San Juan Bautista and the San Juan Valley.
As a result, San Juan Oaks supports the Highway 156 widening project with the smallest footprint.
The investment of state bond funds on these two facilities in our region will provide the first fixes to our overall mobility system and help commerce in our area.
The mobility partnership has a plan that would invest more than $700 million in a “mobility triangle” that, when completed, will improve safety, operations and mobility for several state highways including Highway 152 – where VTA is poised to study a realignment that would provide a more safe and direct route to Highway 101 – especially for the area’s truck traffic – and Highway 25.
Certainly San Juan Oaks Golf Club, and our future residents and customers, will benefit from increased safety and predictable travel times that this improved transportation network will provide.
But I believe that our business interest matches the community’s interest in this case, and that we all will benefit from these much needed improvements.
We are on the cusp of attaining significant funding for road improvements that are vital to our future economic well-being.
We should continue with the mobility partnership.
The key to getting this bond money from the state will be to show that the region is unanimous in its support for the mobility plan.
We have committed partners in Caltrans and VTA and we must do our share and stay united on the vision for the sake of our residents, our businesses and our visitors.
Scott Fuller is the general manager of San Juan Oaks Golf Club.
