Add our voice to the chorus crying out for a fix to the infamous
Don Pacheco Y that has vexed travelers for decades.
Add our voice to the chorus crying out for a fix to the infamous Don Pacheco Y that has vexed travelers for decades.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s staff was at Casa De Fruta Wednesday to gauge the need for a flyover at the intersection as they decide how to spend $1.3 billion set aside for transportation in the proposed state budget. The governor has proposed pitching in a $11.5 million toward the $32 million project – a key piece to the funding puzzle that could get it built.
What his representatives heard from myriad local officials Wednesday is that something must be done to fix the intersection that causes traffic to back up all the way to U.S. 101 or our regional economy will suffer and drivers will continue to take dangerous risks as they navigate the road.
The need to improve the intersection is evident to anyone who has waited in the sometimes 13-mile traffic backup that plagues Highway 152 on a get-away Friday. The problem is that Good Samaritan travelers on eastbound 152 stop to let westbound travelers turn on to 156, turning 152 into a parking lot and the trip from 101 into an event that can take more than two hours.
Fixing the Pacheco Y, scene of numerous bloody accidents over the years, is a safety issue. It’s also an environmental issue. Think of the amount of pollution thousands of idling cars pump into the air while stuck in the frequent backups and look at the stats:
Nearly 8,000 vehicles a day travel along 152 from the Central Valley
On the busiest days, 30,000 drivers use the road
Traffic is so bad that the California Highway Patrol can do little to control the problems that crop up.
“We can deal with it but we can’t manage it. We can’t manage that intersection,” CHP Commander Bob Davies told the governor’s representatives.
It all adds up to an obvious need to get the road fixed. We want to make it clear to the governor and our state representatives, Simon Salinas D-Salinas and State Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, that building a flyover is of utmost importance and it should be placed right at the top of the state transportation priorities.
After decades of delays and disappointment, the governor’s proposed budget promises to move us as close as we’ve ever been to getting the flyover built. We want to make sure our local representatives use whatever sway they have in Sacramento to keep it that way.
