Officials expect Santa Teresa to be complete in time for annual
event
Gilroy – Construction along the city’s half-finished western traffic artery could resume as early as next week and wrap up by mid-July, in time for thousands of visitors to flock to Gilroy for the 28th annual Garlic Festival, according to city and construction officials.
“All of our negotiations have definitely taken the Garlic Festival schedule into account,” City Engineering Director Rick Smelser said of talks with Granite Construction, the contractor hired to widen Santa Teresa Boulevard from two to four lanes. “We are both in agreement – the contractor and the city – that we can finish the work in time. We don’t want to be in the situation of having the road all torn up with the Garlic Festival approaching. … If it looks like it would interfere with the festival, we would just wait until it ends.”
Traffic along the southbound side of Santa Teresa Boulevard, a gateway to the city’s marquee event for thousands of visitors arriving from the north, has been restricted to one lane for more than seven months due to early signs of deterioration in the new road.
City officials asked Granite Construction to discontinue work last October, after inspectors discovered the formation of tire ruts along a 1.7-mile stretch of the road north of First Street. Traffic cones have restricted motorists to a single southbound lane ever since, as the city and contractor performed independent testing to identify the source of the problem and an appropriate fix.
Test results from both sides identified water intrusion as the source of the problem several months ago, though the city and Granite had not settled on the level of repair work required until Friday.
“Our desire is to have a comprehensive rebuild of the west side, and at this point Granite feels it should be sections that they believe are not built per contract,” said Gilroy Community Development Director Wendie Rooney, referring to areas where tire ruts are forming. “The compromise is that they will start grinding up the asphalt, and as they do, testing will be done.”
The initial road work will involve removing four to six inches of asphalt along sections of the already cordoned off “fast lane,” closest to the median, according to Kurt Kniffin, Granite Construction’s branch manager in Watsonville.
“We’re going to do some testing outside those areas to ensure that the areas that have been delineated are the correct ones,” he said.
The contractor will apply the same solution on a larger scale to the western-most “slow” lane, where rutting is the worst, before applying a final two-inch overlay of asphalt to both southbound lanes. City inspectors will monitor testing throughout the process to ensure that all problem areas are identified and fixed.
Officials have not found any signs of deterioration on the two eastern, northbound lanes of Santa Teresa Boulevard, which have been open to traffic for several months.
City officials and Granite representatives were expected to meet today to begin sorting out the thornier question of who will ultimately pay for the road repairs. City officials warned about the possibility of a protracted legal battle with Granite after first disclosing road problems in January, blaming the contractor at the time for performing the work during rainy winter months. Granite officials have not accepted responsibility for the road problems, and the city has dialed down the warnings while both sides focused on a technical solution.
Today, with a technical solution in hand, officials will resume discussion of financial responsibility with Granite in the first of what they say will be weekly meetings.
Gilroy officials have already paid out more than 90 percent of Granite’s $7.5 million contract, and it remains unclear who will pay for repairs expected to push the project over budget. Neither side has tipped its hand on how far they would budge on the financing issue, though Granite may have the upper hand as the Garlic Festival approaches.
Many visitors reach the festival site at Christmas Hill Park by exiting U.S. Highway 101 at San Martin Avenue and following Santa Teresa Boulevard south. But the majority of the 100,000-plus visitors use the city’s southernmost highway ramp off Monterey Road.
Brian Bowe, the new executive director of the nonprofit Garlic Festival Association, does not view single-lane access for those using Santa Teresa Boulevard as a major obstacle.
“I don’t see that as a serious problem because Santa Teresa becomes one lane before reaching Gilroy anyway,” he said. “If things get too backed up on Santa Teresa, they will divert traffic to the Monterey Road exit to the south. It’s not uncommon for the law enforcement personnel to change the expressway signs to reroute traffic on the fly.”
The Garlic Festival takes place this year from July 28-30 and city officials said that repair work, expected to last a month from the time construction resumes, would have to be scheduled for completion at least a week before the festival to allow for unforeseen delays.
“I still have concerns about who ends up paying for it,” said Kevin Kelly, an Eagle Ridge resident and commuter to Silicon Valley who frequently uses Santa Teresa Boulevard. “If it’s shoddy construction, Granite should pay. Of course, more test results will reveal that.”
In the meantime, Kelly said, “I’m happy some progress is being made.”
