Motorists should prepare for the most chaotic week of lane
changes in the course of the widening project along Santa Teresa
Boulevard, the city’s western artery.
Gilroy – Motorists should prepare for the most chaotic week of lane changes in the course of the widening project along Santa Teresa Boulevard, the city’s western artery.
City traffic inspector Steve Beams is asking residents to avoid the street altogether as crews continue shifting traffic patterns to install intersection lights, landscaping and pavement along the future four-lane road.
In recent months, drivers may have grown accustomed to using the two far west lanes to travel along Santa Teresa, between First Street and Sunset Drive. Next week, traffic will be routed to single lanes on the south- and north-bound sides of the roadway.
Beams could not give a schedule for which lanes would be open on which days.
“It’s going to vary,” he said. “You may be traveling in the slow lane one day and then be in the fast lane the next. … It’s going to get really chaotic out there.”
As part of the project, construction crews will shut down Welburn Avenue and Longmeadow Drive, on the following days:
• Welburn Avenue will be closed between Santa Teresa and Delta Drive, to the west, and between Santa Teresa and Gaunt Avenue, to the east, from Oct. 24 to 26
• Longmeadow Drive will be closed between Santa Teresa and Hirasaki Drive from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3
Finishing touches to the road project will continue through December, Beams said, but motorists can expect the worst inconveniences in the next two weeks.
“This is probably going to be the most delays everyone has seen on the project as far as sitting in traffic,” he said. “I highly suggest taking an alternate route so we can get in there and get the work done.”
