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After pushback from local residents and the Board of Supervisors, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) decided not to apply this year for a federal grant to study a new Hwy 152 route in northern San Benito County, shifting traffic to Hwy 25.
Known as the New Trade Corridor, the project would realign Hwy 152 to create a new connection between Highways 101 and 156 in an effort to improve freight movement, commuter travel and tourism between the Central Valley and the Central Coast.
At a Feb. 18 meeting of the San Benito County and Santa Clara County Mobility Partnership, VTA Chief Engineering and Program Delivery Officer Casey Emoto said the agency will instead wait until 2027 to apply and hold a community workshop to gather more public input before applying. The Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant would have provided $9 million for preliminary engineering and environmental studies, which VTA would have matched with $1 million.
“We’ve decided not to move forward with this grant because there’s still quite a bit of information we need to gather,” Emoto said.
The decision came after the Board of Supervisors unanimously opposed the project at a Feb. 10 meeting, during which county residents also expressed their opposition. Supervisor Angela Curro even called it a “disaster for the community.”
A key concern was that the project had already defined a specific area around Shore Road—called an “envelope”—where the realignment would occur. Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez, who also sits on the Mobility Partnership, argued the route should run farther south, closer to Hollister, where it could spur commercial and industrial development rather than cutting through rural areas.
“If not, there is no point in it,” Velazquez said. “That’s what we have to look at as a community.”
Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki said the project as proposed would promote “irresponsible growth” on ag lands.
Local farmer and Vice President of the San Benito County Water District Joe Tonascia said the project would cut floodplains and would really benefit Santa Clara County, not San Benito.
“Santa Clara needs us,” Tonascia said during public comment. “They need the open space, they need the ground to build this highway, and we should be getting something for it. Spend the money where it’s going to benefit San Benito County.”
Another issue, Supervisor Mindy Sotelo said, was the lack of outreach—both to the community and to the board—before the project area was decided. She added that the board should not have learned about it through a presentation, but through a broader public discussion. She supported Kosmicki’s idea of writing a letter of opposition to the U.S. Department of Transportation if VTA applied.
“This is a huge, huge impact on our county,” Sotelo said. “We cannot sell ourselves short. We need to make this work for San Benito. I do not want to pave over prime farm ground. That makes no sense.”
The VTA has not said when the first public workshops will be held.
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