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Following a high-level screening process of two additional alternatives for the Hwy 25 widening project, the Council of San Benito County Governments (COG) will not pursue a four-lane expressway on the existing route between San Felipe Road and Hudner Lane.
Aligned with a Caltrans recommendation, the regional transportation agency will continue to analyze a four-lane conventional highway for that section of the project. Conventional highways have more entry and exit points than an expressway.
With that decision, environmental studies for the project now include eight alternatives, including a no-build option.
The project covers four alternatives using a new route approved in 2016:
- 4-lane expressway
- 3-lane expressway with a reversible lane in the middle
- 2-lane expressway
- 2-lane transit only busway
Other alternatives include a reversible bus lane adjacent to the Union Pacific rail line and developing a new passenger rail service on the existing rail. The last two alternatives on the existing route were borne out of concerns from farmers and land owners over the adopted route’s impact on their properties and businesses.
Comparing the two additional alternatives on the existing route, Caltrans Senior Project Manager Chad Stoehr said the four-lane expressway would have had a 30% greater footprint and greater traffic impacts during construction.
That alternative also would have required a larger curve between San Felipe Road and Wright Road in order to meet state-mandated geometrics in order to support the designed speeds.
COG Executive Director Binu Abraham said the expressway option also required the project to convert the two existing lanes to frontage roads and construct four new lanes.
“We would need to have a four-lane road and a frontage road so that the farming equipment can get in and out of the farms,” she said.
As for the conventional highway alternative, the preliminary analysis found it would require greater travel time because of delays and lower speeds; a lesser ability to handle long-term growth; and potentially require consolidating or eliminating driveways and private roads.
Stoehr said because the project would include a concrete barrier separating the lanes, vehicles would not be able to make a left turn onto the highway.
He said such an option adds between one and two years to the current schedule and between $1 million and $3 million in costs. The current timeline sets the beginning of construction for 2031.
Marie Hoffman with Fairhaven Orchards said a group of land owners met and would like the board to analyze a three-lane conventional highway design on the current route, consisting of “two-through lanes with strategically placed turn and acceleration lanes.”
“That configuration would significantly reduce right-of-way impacts while still improving safety and traffic flow,” she said. “Based on the discussions among neighboring landowners, this alternative represents a balanced and workable solution that most of us could really support.”
Other members of the public urged the board to separate the proposed Hwy 25-156 flyover from the overall project, to focus on pursuing a project that could serve future needs, and to improve San Felipe Road so that it can serve as an alternative route into and out of Hollister.
Stoehr said Caltrans will return at the scheduled May 21 COG meeting to complete the high-level analysis of the alternatives identified for the 2016 adopted route, which runs west of the current route from San Felipe Road until south of Shore Road, and the transit-only alternatives.
“There will likely be an action or concurrence regarding those other alternatives at that time,” he said.
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