San Benito County is installing a $72,000 stop light at one of
the most dangerous rural intersections in the area
– Sunnyslope and Fairview roads.
The Board of Supervisors this week approved the new lights,
where nearly 60 collisions and five deaths have occurred in the
past two years.
San Benito County is installing a $72,000 stop light at one of the most dangerous rural intersections in the area – Sunnyslope and Fairview roads.
The Board of Supervisors this week approved the new lights, where nearly 60 collisions and five deaths have occurred in the past two years.
The most recent tragedy happened in April when a Sacramento man was killed there after he reportedly violated the right of way law and his car hit a sport utility vehicle with three Hollister residents. They survived.
County Public Works expects the contractor, Beltramo Electric, to start installing the lights in the coming weeks.
The company then has 60 days to finish, according to Deputy Public Works Director Arman Nazemi.
The project has been on the table for about eight months; that’s when the board authorized engineers to start the design process, Nazemi said.
Although the lights are new, they’ll be a simplified version of other lights going up around town, he said. From wooden posts, a series of cables will hold up these fixtures.
“Hopefully this signal will put an order into the intersection operations in a manner that everybody is forced to stop,” Nazemi said.
Nazemi said most accidents at the intersection have been right of way violations.
The county will soon address another danger spot on Fairview, at the intersection of Fallon Road, he said. Similarly to recent work on a couple of other intersections on the road, the county will expand the right and left turn area there.
