On Feb. 9, Caltrans District 5 published its Active Transportation Plan for the Central Coast. The agency said it’s the first of a series of district-level active transportation plans that are being developed for each of the 12 Caltrans districts in California.
Caltrans identifies Highway 25 between Hollister and Tres Pinos, Highway 25 near Pinnacles National Park and Highway 156 between San Juan Bautista and Union Road in Hollister as sites for pedestrian and bicycling improvements.
The plan marks Highway 25 in both north Hollister and south county, and Highway 156 in San Juan Bautista, as sites with little bicycle or pedestrian activity, but as areas where people have expressed an interest in having those areas improved for bicycling and walking.
Caltrans included a prioritized list of bicycle and pedestrian needs for travel along, across and parallel to state highways in the five Central Coast Counties of District 5.
Veronica Lezama, transportation planner with the Council of San Benito County Governments said, “The purpose of this is to identify locations where needs may be best suited to move into Caltrans project development phases over time.”
She added prioritization could be in part to inform future Caltrans efforts in seeking competitive funds to implement the plan.
The story map in the plan provides detail on a full range of existing conditions measures and illustrates the individual and prioritized needs. It also provides further information about each need, including:
- Whether the location of a need is along or across the highway
- Whether the need affects people walking or bicycling
- Relative priority (Tier 1, Tier 2, or Tier 3)
- Prioritization goal score
The plan also includes a summary report and an interactive explorer map. Caltrans said the goals of the District 5 Active Transportation Plan are safety, equity, mobility, preservation, corridor context and partnership.
The plan was developed in collaboration with partner agencies, advocacy groups and members of the public. For the San Benito County portion, Caltrans partnered with the regional transportation agency, Council of San Benito County Governments, and REACH San Benito Parks Foundation.
The Caltrans District 5 Active Transportation Plan is available here. Residents may also contact Caltrans with questions or comments via email at d5bikeped@dot.ca.gov.
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