Gilroy – A project to widen U.S. Highway 101 from south Gilroy to State Route 25 is a top candidate to pull down funds from $4.5 billion earmarked for statewide road improvements, according to officials at the California Department of Transportation.
The $128 million project to widen 101 from four to six lanes is among more than 60 projects Caltrans has recommended for funding from the Corridor Mobility Improvement Account. The CMIA is the first pool of money to become available from a $19.9-billion bond voters approved in November.
Projects that reduce congestion and improve highway safety have the best chance of being funded, Caltrans officials said.
The 101 widening is the first phase of a $750 million project to unclog Highway 152, which connects drivers to the Central Valley and serves as home to a pair of major shopping centers. Officials in San Benito and Santa Clara county have been working for a decade to devise a plan to create an alternate route that could provide a new connection point to 101, somewhere south of Gilroy.
The widening project is the first phase of that plan.
“You’ve got to have that in place before anything else can move forward,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage, who has lobbied for the funding since his days as Gilroy mayor in the mid-’90s.
He predicted the project would make the final cut, as officials at the California Transportation Commission select a final list of projects.
Local officials hope to get $108 million – or more than two thirds of the project funding – from the state.
Caltrans has also recommended approval of $38 million for a project to widen Highway 156 from two to four lanes between Alameda Street and Union Mitchell Road. The total cost of that project, which lies near San Juan Bautista, is $66.3 million.
Serdar Tumgoren, Senior Staff Writer, covers City Hall for the Dispatch. Reach him at 847-7109 or st*******@gi************.com.
