BY ALEX CANTATORE
Hilmar’s Lander Avenue has long been bogged down by the heavy traffic associated with State Route 165. As drivers make their way from Highway 99 to Interstate 5, crossing through Hilmar, Stevinson, and Los Banos on the way, they make a nuisance for local residents.
That noisy, dangerous traffic could become a thing of the past - but not anytime soon - as $1.4 million in federal funding and five governmental agencies have come together to conduct a study on a future realignment or potential improvements to State Route 165, possibly including a new interchange with Highway 99.
The City of Turlock, Stanislaus County, Merced County, the Stanislaus County Council of Governments, and the Merced Association of Governments are all working in tandem with CalTrans to comprehensively examine the problems facing SR 165 today and, eventually, to draft a plan to address those problems.
The planning effort is currently in an extremely nascent stage, with the first community meeting on the subject being held at Elim Elementary School in Hilmar on April 22. Approximately 80 residents attended that meeting, where they heard a presentation on the project and then carefully surveyed four 20-foot long maps laid out on cafeteria tables, pointing out problem areas to the project consultants.
“People living in Hilmar on State Route 165 know that route better than anyone else,” said Bob Morrison, project manager with Sacramento-based Bender Rosenthal, Inc.
As residents illustrated the issues with Lander Avenue to the consultants, a common thread seemed to emerge.
“What we’ve seen is there is a great deal of truck traffic that conflicts with the local traffic,” Morrison said. “Those conflicts lead to high accident rates and they’re only projected to get worse.”
The Hilmar Municipal Advisory Council has already identified a need for a SR 165 bypass which would take traffic around Hilmar, rather than through it. However, as no formal study was done at that time, the current planning project represents the first action on the path towards creating a modified SR 165.
Morrison expects the planning study to be completed in June of 2010, at which time various alternative plans will be put forth on paper. After a preferred plan is selected, based on selection criteria drafted through community input, an environmental impact report will be drafted by 2014.
Any physical change to SR 165 is still many years out, as the $1.4 million in federal funding is not expected to see the project all the way through the end of the EIR process, let alone construction. No funding source has been identified for any future SR 165 improvements.
“This is going to be a long time, and how you pay for all this is something you also need to think about,” Morrison said. “We’re hoping that as things turn around economically for the state, the necessity of this project going forward will click.”
The next community meeting on the SR 165 project is expected to be held in late summer or early fall.
To contact Alex Cantatore, e-mail acantatore@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2005.
Originally published in the Turlock Journal 5/8/2009.
Retrieved from the Turlock Journal Web site.