Officials move to change adopted route for Hwy 25 expansion

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Seeking to protect productive farmland, the Council of San Benito County Governments (COG) will identify and analyze alternative means of expanding Hwy 25. Once those are identified, they can be included in the ongoing environmental study for the project. 

To undertake this approach, the agency has paused portions of the environmental study for the project, thus extending the overall timeline. 

It’s unclear which portions of the study will be paused but Caltrans District 5 Deputy Director Brandy Rider said the agency’s spring survey and vehicle miles traveled analysis can continue. 

The Caltrans public information office told BenitoLink it would identify the portions of the environmental study that will be paused but had not done so as of publication. Vehicle miles traveled is a metric used by the state to fund projects, and the spring survey studies animal species present in the area during the spring season.

“If we lose this cycle of the spring surveys, then we are having to wait until next year,” Rider said. “For now there are a couple of key [portions of the studies] that we don’t want to lose time on so that we don’t delay things too much.”

She said that ultimately COG, which is the decision-making agency for the project, was taking a step back to compare the pros and cons of the alignments it wants to include in future environmental studies. 

Rider said part of the work that would be “slowed down” involves aspects of design because it doesn’t want to spend a lot of time on alternatives the public does not support.

A majority of COG directors say they don’t support the previously adopted route, chosen in 2016, which traverses several farms on prime agricultural land between San Felipe Road and Hudner Lane, including Fairhaven Orchards and Hayhurst. 

Among the other options that have been discussed include adding lanes to the existing route or using the San Felipe Road route. 

COG is using Measure G, a 30-year, 1% sales tax, to fund part of the project. It’s estimated the measure will generate about $485 million for local road projects, of which half is earmarked for Hwy 25. Neither COG nor Caltrans have provided a cost estimate for the project but it’s expected to exceed what Measure G can generate. 

Many local farmers and community members also oppose the adopted route and have lobbied local leaders not to pave over productive agricultural land.

“It is the beginning of a step in the right direction to not only have a good functioning highway going to the north but to also be thinking of the future of San Benito County in terms of jobs and traffic circulation,” farmer Joe Tonascia said. 

Hollister City Councilmember and COG Director Rolan Resendiz pushed to eliminate the previously adopted route from consideration altogether, saying it was a waste of taxpayers’ money but Rider said state and federal law requires COG to analyze a “reasonable range of alternatives.” 

“Many people may feel like that is the wrong alternative to take, but we still have to qualitatively and quantitatively demonstrate that that alternative is not an alternative we’re going to move forward with,” she said.

Rider said the goal is for Caltrans and COG to host public workshops about route alternatives in the summer and present them to the COG board in August or September. She said the board can then make a decision on which alternatives it wants to add to the environmental study. 

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