Quick trip to Monterey? Highway 68 slows it down
Q Please forgive me if I seem to be whining, but I have had the great misfortune to drive to Monterey twice recently, and I wrote to you about it a few weeks ago. I realize that this may not be as important to you as Caltrans sweepers or why Montague Expressway is named what it is, or how to turn off the horn signal when locking or unlocking a car’s electrical locks, but here is the problem:
Highway 68 connects Salinas and Monterey, and every morning, thousands of commuters take 25 to 30 minutes to go five miles where the freeway becomes two lanes with traffic lights. This has led many commuters to divert into local residential areas to make up two or three minutes. Imagine being one of those local residents. Or one of the local commuters. Or one of the tens of thousands of visitors.
Isn’t it in the public interest to make Highway 68 a four- lane freeway all the way, instead of choking it down and delaying thousands? Trying to escape this awfulness by taking Highway 1 and Highway 156 does not help, since 156 is another choke point — two lanes from Highway 101 in Prunedale to Castroville.
Will they ever fix this mess?
A Officials with the Transportation Agency for Monterey County say that at a cost of about $ 1 billion, a full widening or bypass is not in the cards. But they are working on affordable improvements such as widening between Toro Park and Corral de Tierra, between intersections, and replacing traffic lights with roundabouts. A sales tax on next year’s ballot may cover some of the costs if it passes.
Some upcoming upgrades include double left- turns westbound at Corral de Tierra, replacing the Salinas River Bridge over Highway 68 and adding cameras and sensors along the 12 miles between Highway 1 and Spreckels Boulevard.
Also, PG& E is replacing a gas main between Toro Park and Bit Road that has added to delays. This should done by May. QI
am stuck on Highway 46, where they have been working for a long time. What are they doing, and when are they going to be done?
Ron Tebow
A Caltrans is widening the highway from one to two lanes in each direction in segments east of Paso Robles to reduce the number of head- on collisions. This work could finish late this year, with widening near Whitley to start this fall and near Cholame in 2019.
Q The Autumn Parkway project between Santa Clara Street and Coleman Avenue has gone dormant for nearly two years. Can you give us an update on plans and timing for the project? … It would be a huge improvement for getting from downtown and the Diridon train station area north to shopping, Guadalupe Park and the airport.
Bert Weaver, Michael Foster, Zachery Alexander
and others A Construction
between Coleman Avenue and Julian Street could be underway in July and take more than a year to complete.
Then in two or four years, work from Julian to San Carlos could begin.