Hollister
– With the passage of Proposition 1B on Nov. 7, more than $20
billion in state transportation funds is about to become available
– and San Benito County is trying to get its share of the pot.
Hollister – With the passage of Proposition 1B on Nov. 7, more than $20 billion in state transportation funds is about to become available – and San Benito County is trying to get its share of the pot.
When Mike Graves, legislative analyst for the county’s Council of Governments, discussed the bond measures in October, he warned that intense lobbying from other jurisdictions could decrease San Benito’s chances of getting money.
However, county Supervisor Anthony Botelho said Thursday he is “completely confident that we’ll get our fair share.
Supervisor Pat Loe, like Botelho, sat on COG’s board of directors in 2006. She said San Benito will be helped by its cooperation with Santa Clara County. Each county has expressed support for the other’s projects.
“Basically, what they’re looking for is joint ventures,” Loe said. “They want everybody to get along.”
Mary Dinkuhn, COG’s transportation planning manager, said the California Department of Transportation is applying for three projects that may at least partially fall within San Benito County:
n Widening of Highway 156 between San Juan Bautista and Union Road from two lanes to four;
n Widening of Highway 101 from Monterey Street in Gilroy to Highway 129 from four lanes to six, with improvements to the Highway 25 interchange;
n Construction of an interchange at San Juan Road and Highway 101.
Dinkuhn noted that CalTrans is the lead agency on each of those projects.
According to previous statements from Bob Davies, COG’s executive director, widening Highway 156 is the county’s best chance for funding, because it already has money for every stage except construction, because construction will begin by 2012 and because it will improve traffic regionally.
He also said state bond money would speed up the process, but it’s not crucial.
Not everyone is excited about the widening, however. Earlier this year, San Juan Bautista resident Ted Thoeny told COG’s board of directors that noise from passing trucks has gotten so loud that he assumed a recent earthquake was just another truck driving by.
Thoeny told the Free Lance that he’s worried the current widening project is just a “Trojan horse” for future expansion.
“The state isn’t going to stop at a couple more lanes,” he said.
Instead of expanding the current route, Thoeny said the county should create a 156 bypass along Bolsa Road.
Greg Swett, chairman of the Farm Bureau’s transportation committee, also said the widening is a move in the wrong direction – toward piecemeal improvements to Highway 25, Highway 152 and Highway 156, rather than a single east-west connector.
“That’s going down the path of spending $1.5 billion (on three separate highways),” Swett said.
Botelho has expressed reservations about expanding 156 in the past, but on Thursday he said the project needs to move forward.
“We need some improvements to move traffic through the region, while at the same time having the smallest footprint,” Botelho said, emphasizing that he wants to minimize the project’s impact on San Juan Bautista and the San Juan Valley.
Dinkuhn said the state will announce the distribution of the Proposition 1B funds on March 1. In addition to the competitive dollars, Dinkuhn said, San Benito County is targeted to receive around $8 million for highways and $1.5 million for public transportation to use at its discretion.
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or ah*@fr***********.com.
