Project may improve safety, but won’t zap congestion
Gilroy – Plans to unsnarl the Highway 152-156 intersection are finally in motion, as transit officials have begun accepting bids for a $36 million flyover ramp. Months after the project was submitted, the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) has signed off on the scheme, which shunts Highway 152 drivers over the top of motorists turning onto Highway 156 toward Hollister.
“It’s primarily a safety improvement,” said Jayme Kunz, spokesperson for the Valley Transportation Authority, “eliminating the unsafe left-hand turn between the two highways.”
The ramp may also smooth traffic near the interchange, said Kunz, by preventing back-ups behind left-turning cars, and keeping “good Samaritan” motorists moving eastbound on 152 from stopping to allow westbound drivers to turn onto 156. But the fix is unlikely to dissolve the bumper-to-bumper traffic that plagues Pacheco Pass Highway on holiday weekends – a major complaint of those living alongside the winding two-lane road.
“It’s a first step, and it’ll help the congestion,” said County Supervisor Don Gage, “but as traffic continues to increase, we’ll have to figure out how to widen 156, and the connections between [Highways] 156, 101 and 25.”
Gage has been meeting with San Benito County officials to map out a four-lane replacement route for Highway 152, and to court federal funds for the project. It’s a bigger project than either the counties or VTA can pay for, said Gage.
The flyover, first approved in 2004, was promised in the 1996 ballot Measure B, but the half-cent sales tax failed to fund it completely. In 2005, the state rejected funding for the project, stalling it until the Metropolitan Transportation Commission came through with $11.5 million in federal cash. But the project idled, awaiting the FHA’s OK, until now.
For those who’ve spent hours crawling along the clogged highway, it’s a welcome idea. Gilroy school board member Pat Midtgaard has lived on Pacheco Pass Highway for more than three decades, and she says Highway 152 should be replaced completely.
“The road should be someplace else,” she said. “It should be a straight shot and it shouldn’t be anywhere near these hills.”
As for the long-awaited flyover, she said, “It’s a Band-Aid.”
VTA will begin advertising contracts for the project today. Construction is scheduled to begin this spring, and is expected to take two years. Federal officials delayed the project after a new project listing detail required it to be resubmitted for approval, said Kunz. Gage called it “real bureaucracy inaction,” but was satisfied to see the project rolling at last.
“All that pushing and scratching and clawing worked!” he joked.
As the flyover takes shape, VTA hopes to minimize closures, said Kunz. Because the project is, essentially, a new chunk of roadway, it shouldn’t shut down the highways for long periods of time.
Emily Alpert covers public safety issues for The Dispatch. She can be reached at 847-7158, or at ea*****@gi************.com.
