One thing you have love about American English is its flexibility - it's truly a living language. For example, a handy acronym we adopted in the 1980s was NIMBY, pronounced nim-bee; it means "not in my backyard." NIMBY describes the opposition of citizens to any project they believe will adversely affect their life, property or neighborhood. NIMBY is not neutral; it's usually used when the opposition to change is mostly self-centered.
Last Tuesday, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors received a CALTRANS report and had a public hearing on the State Route 156 project designed to widen the highway from Hollister to San Juan Bautista, and there was opposition a-plenty. More than a score of San Juan Bautista residents showed up to oppose the project. Although there was surely some NIMBY, there were also some valid complaints.
Like it or not, a Route 156 improvement project is coming. We must relieve the prime time traffic jam between Hollister and San Juan Bautista. Perhaps the transportation Pooh-Bahs will change their overall plan, but I wouldn't bet on it; therefore, it's up to CALTRANS and the citizens to mitigate the project's problems. After all, 60 percent of the traffic on this stretch is local, so we are 60 percent of the issue.
First, let's dispose of the NIMBY. I don't buy the argument that this will be a six-lane highway; it's a four-lane highway with two frontage roads. Barring a blockage of the primary roadway, there will be no through-traffic on the frontage roads. I'm not very sympathetic to concerns about farmland because many landowners agree to develop when the big money shows up. Trucks are a problem, but almost all of our agriculture products ship on trucks. If I asked local agri-business to take their trucks off the road they would tell me where to get off - and it would not be at the next exit. Finally, safety, access and emergency backup require frontage roads; they make sense.
Now to some real issues - almost all the local complaints were based on the current noise and safety problems where Route 156 runs adjacent to San Jan Bautista and at The Alameda where there is a traffic light and crossing. The residents say that it's bad now and they predict that it will be much worse later. On those issues, they have sharp points.
I had the unfortunate experience of living on a quiet road that became a busy truck route with a traffic light. The low-frequency vibrations just move through the earth and assault both your ears and your body ... The traffic light causes Jake-Brakes and gear grinding as the trucks try to stop and then re-accelerate. Eventually, they hit the sympathetic frequency of your bed frame or windowpane and you're wide-awake at 3 a.m.
The same traffic light is an initiation for disaster; it's at the bottom of a long, fast downgrade that just begs, "Run me." Every time I approach it I look into the rear view mirror to see if a speeding big-rig is going to cream me. If one were close behind, I'd be tempted to run the light, except I know the corner is also a pedestrian crossing and the walkers would not have a chance. Anyone walking across on that light deserves a medal.
So, what is the CALTRANS' plan to fix these very real problems? They don't have one, and that does not instill confidence in their decision-making. A reasonable plan for Route 156 improvement would figure something out and roll the solution into the project; making a bad situation worse is the wrong answer.
The final issue is regional and the most critical; it involves the local flood plain. Unless the improved route has adequate provisions to relieve potential flooding, it will act like the sides of a swimming pool and trap the inevitable floodwaters. Everyone I talked to on all sides of the issue has that same concern and they do not expect that a standard design will handle this non-standard problem. We need provisions for more pass-through flow and while they are at it, they should put in a way for the farmers to move their equipment under the highway. That will further limit congestion.
CALTRANS needs to get busy on these important issues. Just moving the traffic jam down the road it not going to do it. We need to make things better both for the traffic and for ourselves.
Marty Richman Got a question or a comment? Send us an email.
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