Gilroy Foods employees will no longer have to wait for a break
in traffic
A U.S. Congressman, a San Jose City Council member and a slew of other local politicians and dignitaries were on hand Friday to herald the city’s newest traffic light – a long-awaited signal that finally ends decades of cat-and-mouse traffic games in front of Gilroy Foods.
“I’m sure all the employees here are very excited about the fact that there’s a way to get out and be safe,” Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro told a crowd of 50 in the Gilroy Foods parking lot. “It means a lot to them.”
As long as the garlic processing plant has been in Gilroy, its workers have had to face the gauntlet of Pacheco Pass without a traffic light. The traffic light began operating on Thursday.
“On a Friday, it’s bad, and on a holiday it’s really, really bad,” said Sharon Sims, who has worked at the plant for eight years and commutes every day from Oakland, forcing her to turn left against traffic. “Yesterday, traffic had to stop because I had a green light. I’m really glad.”
The signal installation is part of larger project to widen Highway 152 and add turning lanes for Gilroy Foods and Westside Transport Inc. across the street. It’s one of the final projects of Measure A/B, a 1996 sales tax to improve transportation in the county. The sales tax expires at the end of March.
Budget problems had the project on hold since September 2002, but a portion of extra money from other Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority projects that came in under budget freed up money for the improvements, including the $250,000 for the traffic light.
The project’s first segment, completed in March 2003, widened 152 from U.S. 101 to immediately west of Gilroy Foods. The road has now been widening across the Llagas Creek bridge.
