San Benito County Board Chairman Anthony Botelho has called for
a multi-agency meeting set to take place Thursday over the Highway
156 widening to get local officials updated on the plans and so
they
”
understand the implications of this project.
”
San Benito County Board Chairman Anthony Botelho has called for a multi-agency meeting set to take place Thursday over the Highway 156 widening to get local officials updated on the plans and so they “understand the implications of this project.”
San Benito County Council of Governments members, supervisors and city council members from San Juan Bautista and Hollister are set to convene at the County Administration Building at 3 p.m. They will hear an update from COG and Caltrans transportation officials.
“I called this meeting because Caltrans has never been transparent with this project as far as the design and the specifications up-front,” said Botelho, the San Benito County Board chairman. “They have withheld a lot of information from the public and a lot of information for the elected bodies.”
Asked to specify, and Botelho contended the state agency – a spokesman for which could not be reached before press time – has not been clear about design changes and mitigation for such impacts as flooding, noise and the “loss of valuable farmland.”
The estimated $70 million project – and the specific option agreed upon last year – calls for building a four-lane highway while keeping the current thoroughfare as a frontage road. It also would include interchanges at Union and Mitchell roads, and then Mission Vineyard and Bigsby roads, according to Lisa Rheinheimer, COG’s executive director. For now, pending the state budget’s direction, the project is scheduled to start in the 2012-13 fiscal year, she said.
She noted how the meeting Thursday is “really just an update” and she pointed out that Caltrans will show a visual simulation – in a video – portraying the look of the highway once completed.
But Botelho, who represents the San Juan Bautista area as a supervisor and for years has opposed Caltrans’ objective to widen Highway 156, contends the project would hurt the rural town’s bucolic aura. He contended “it’s not too late” to go another route.
“I just want to make sure people realize this before we’re too far down the road and we can’t change direction,” said Botelho, long an opponent of the Highway 156 expansion while a proponent of a San Benito County Farm Bureau alternative called the 3-in-1.
COG’s executive director, however, noted that the completed environmental review document goes back to the early part of the decade, but had been held up by issues dealing with water, endangered species and potential implications on historic artifacts.
She acknowledged the project would “likely be delayed” if California’s budget problems continue, but noted how a large majority of the cost – $50 million of the $70 million total – is allocated from the state. She said Caltrans is conducting a “parallel process” by completing the final design work and moving ahead on the acquisition phase.
“From the COG’s perspective, Highway 156 is very much supported,” Rheinheimer said. “They see a need for improving 156.”
Most supervisors, meanwhile, do appear to be on board with the project’s direction.
“The community needs the improvements to that road,” Supervisor Pat Loe said. “The road is close to capacity right now. We certainly can’t let it become another blood alley. I want to respect San Juan’s wishes and work with them the best we can, but we need the road.”
