Smooth driving ahead on Shore Road

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San Benito County officials say the much-anticipated 2.5-mile Shore Road improvement project will be finished by the end of June. 

Public Works Administrator Steve Loupe said the county still needs to add some asphalt near the project limits to address potential pedestrian tripping hazards.

Loupe said the project will be completed on schedule and that the biggest challenge was minimizing traffic delays during construction.

Work began on April 3 and was originally slated to be completed by the end of spring. 

According to Loupe, the county has paid $3.1 million to date for the Shore Road work but the San Benito County public works department requested additional work to install paving for driveway conforms.

“It’s likely that the additional paving will exceed the original bid amount,” he said. 

The original bid by Sacramento-based Teichert Construction was $3.5 million in 2024.

Loupe said the project was paid with $1.1 million from John Smith Road Landfill funds and $3.2 million from the general fund.

The project included repairing cracks and holes in the roadway, as well as fixing sections prone to flooding on the stretch of Shore Road connecting Frazer Lake and San Felipe roads. 

Since the county has several active road projects, Loupe urged residents to drive safely and respectfully within and beyond construction zones.

Shore Road safety has been a traffic safety focal point recently, as several accidents since January have resulted in five deaths. But Loupe said the project was not based on a response to the recent accidents. 

Many of the roads in the unincorporated area of San Benito County are rated either poor or very poor on the pavement condition index, a rating system which grades road conditions on a scale of 0-100. A rating between 31 and 50 is considered poor.

In 2021, the county’s roads received an overall rating of 37.

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