Caltrans says the major route will close for 40 days in
August
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Beachgoers, Santa Cruz-bound commuters and students at a local school will have to find a different way to get to their destinations next month.
U.S. Highway 152 will be closed for 40 days while the California Department of Transportation completes part of a shoulder-widening project on a half-mile portion of the two-lane road just past the Santa Clara and Santa Cruz County line. Hecker Pass will remain open to the summit, at Mt. Madonna County Park, but drivers coming from Gilroy will not be able to use the highway to reach the Santa Cruz area, and vice versa.
During construction, traffic will be routed to Highway 129 by detour signs posted along major highways in Santa Clara, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties. That route takes drivers from Highway 101 south of Gilroy to Watsonville.
The 40-day closure will begin next month and is not expected to affect people who use Hecker Pass to come to the Garlic Festival the last weekend of this month.
“We still don’t have an exact date yet, but I’m looking at sometime after the first of August,” Cindy Utter, associate transportation planner with Caltrans, said Monday.
The length of the project is about 0.4 miles just past the summit, and includes the first hair-pin turn on the western side of the hill. The purpose of the project is to improve safety on that portion of the highway by widening the existing traffic lanes and shoulders. No new lanes will be added.
Fully closing the highway for 40 days is necessary, according to Caltrans, because of the extensive work that will be done on the hillsides along the road’s narrow shoulders. The closure will ensure drivers’ and highway workers’ safety, allow construction to move faster and minimize traffic delays, according to Caltrans.
The $1.5-million project is part of the State Highway Operation and Protection Program, funded through the State Highway Account. Between seven and 15 oak trees will be removed from the slope near the lower curve and a new, steeper slope will have layers of natural soil elements reinforced with plastic mesh.
A concrete barrier, light brown to blend in with the environment, will be constructed along the inside of the narrow curve. The existing guardrail will be upgraded with dark-colored steel posts that will not have a shiny appearance to better blend in, according to Caltrans.
Native landscaping will be planted around the project, including oak trees and native grasses, such as Santa Cruz blue wild rye, California brome and meadow barley. Construction that does not require a closure will continue and should be complete next spring.
While the project will mean an inconvenience for some, it will be a flat-out headache for others.
Administrators at Mount Madonna School, located on Summit Road, recently learned about the closure and are planning how they will get their students who live on the west side of the hill – roughly 120 – to the campus.
“We don’t quite know how we’re going to address it, because we have buses that go on both sides of the hill, and (Highway 152) is the route our buses take, so we don’t know how we’re going to get our kids to school,” said Christine White, director of operations for the school.
Summer school is in session this week, and the fall semester starts Sep. 6, which should be about a week before the road re-opens.
Although not all students ride the bus and some parents may choose to take Highway 129, that route is not a useful alternative for the school, White said. The school may end up sending the buses up and down a one-lane county road instead, which will require someone at the top of the hill and another at the bottom to prevent any other cars from entering, White said.
School officials will hash out a plan before contacting parents to alert them of the issue, she said.
“It would have been nice if it were already started, then we wouldn’t have to worry about it,” White said. “The sooner it gets started, the sooner they can finish.”
Highway 152 closure
– Expanded lanes and shoulders, concrete barrier on the inside of a narrow curve, upgraded guardrail, reinforced hillside, and new vegetation
– Early August, lasting 40 days
– Western side of the summit, from 0.3 miles to 0.7 miles west of the Santa Clara/Santa Cruz county line
