UPDATE: Special Report, Highways 68 & 156 Drive You Crazy

UPDATE 5.12.15: As I reported in this Dear Jon special report a week ago, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County received $300,000 to study how to improve Highway 68 between Salinas and Monterey and make it more environmentally sustainable.

The details of this Transportation Planning Grant from Caltrans is that it will help the agency develop the Monterey-Salinas Scenic Highway Plan. The grant is part of $9.8 million in competitive Sustainable Transportation Planning Grants distributed across the state to support cities, counties, agencies and transit operators in their efforts to integrate transit, bicycling and walking into their local transportation plans.

With the funding secured, the Transportation Agency can begin working on the plan this fall.

The agency says the plan will be used to improve safety, reduce congestion, and enhance environmental conditions along the scenic Monterey-Salinas Highway. The plan will look at current and future travel patterns between Monterey and Salinas, evaluate affordable near-term improvements, and determine opportunities for wildlife connectivity enhancements. Once completed, the plan will provide the data, analysis, and public conversation necessary to make informed decisions about transportation projects to benefit the future of the scenic Monterey-Salinas Highway.

With less funding from the federal and state government and revenue from gas taxes decreasing, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County is looking to become a “self-help” county. 20 other counties in California have become “self-help counties” with the passage of voter-approved transportation sales tax measures.

TAMC says if Monterey County were to become a “self-help” county with the passage of a transportation improvement measure, funding would be available for projects that improve safety, commerce, and quality of life. The new funds raised would act as a leveraging agent to better compete for state and federal grants.

Todd Muck, the Deputy Director of TAMC says they’re looking at a 3/8 cent sales tax measure for voters in 2016. These funds would go directly to transportation planning and infrastructure.

The public would have to approve such an effort and tax, but TAMC says becoming a “self-help” county gives the public the opportunity to play a key role in determining the future and identifying projects, in which local money would provide local solutions for local needs.

The Monterey-Salinas Highway Plan will help identify projects that can be funded through the measure.

05.05.15: The Transportation Agency for Monterey County says they know it’s a commuting nightmare on Highways 68 and 156. The good news is they’re about to get going on a study and public input on improving the Highway 68 corridor after receiving new grant funding from Caltrans. For Highway 156, the process for a solution has been 10 years in the making and it’s inching along like a traffic backup.

Let’s first take a look at Highway 68.

“The traffic, the backup, it’s horrible!” That sums it up for Mona Donkers of Salinas. Many other commuters on Highway 68 will relate to that sentiment during mornings and evenings and special events that stretch backups into the weekends.

“I mean, people are stupid! I’m sorry, they just drive weird. I’m uptight even before I get to work,” laments Donkers.

Discussion of widening Highway 68 has gone on for years. Sixty years ago Caltrans had planned to bypass Salinas with a four lane Highway 68 from Highway 101 in Salinas to Highway 1 in Monterey, that died due to environmental concerns. Now a California designated scenic highway, a new four lane to Monterey is unlikely, but Todd Muck from the Transportation Agency for Monterey County says all hope is not lost for improvements on the highway.

“We would like to look at replacing some of the signal light intersections with roundabouts. In other parts of the country, roundabouts have reduced the travel time for someone driving through a corridor,” says Muck.

TAMC has just received $300,000 in grant funding from Caltrans to study solutions for Highway 68 and how to preserve the scenic beauty. “Part of that grant money is to work with the public to see what the public would like as far as improvements,” says Muck. That’s a green light for you to add your concerns, and those public meetings will be coming in the weeks ahead.

Let’s switch gears to Highway 156.

Ron from Royal Oaks wrote to me and says he’s fed up! “The bottleneck from Castroville, at Castroville Blvd/152 to Prunedale/101 is intolerable at almost any time. During certain hours any day, but specifically every Saturday & Sunday afternoon when the “local tourists” return from Monterey to the South Bay & Bay Area it is a parking lot.”

The issue, according to TAMC, is finding enough funding for improvements.

Says Muck, “Well, it’s very expensive and the amount of money we get from the state and government doesn’t come close to paying for it. It would take us approximately 20 to 30 years to save up enough money from those sources to pay that project.”

10 years of work and planning have a gone into the Highway 156 project. Caltrans and TAMC have proposed a new four lane highway at a cost of $268 million, but they currently have saved only $32 million. So now Muck says they’re looking into making a new four lane 156 a toll road and keeping the existing road free.

“That’s what we’re investigating. It hasn’t been determined if it’s feasible or if it’s something that we want to do as a community but were starting to analyze it,” says Muck.

If a toll road is found to be feasible, Muck says construction could be done in just six to eight years as opposed to the 20 or 30 years to save up the money.

One other option is what TAMC is looking at, a 3/8 of a cent sales tax measure in, 2016 that could generate $20 million a year for road construction.

Two very different roads with different issues, but the problem is the same according to Mona Donkers, “There’s just too many people!”

We’ll continue check out which roads are driving you crazy. Contact me by email or social media with your highway headaches and let’s find some answers for you. DearJon@KionRightNow.com