|
|
The bittersweet beginning of the Prunedale Improvement Project Commentary by Bob Perkins June 2011
Highway 101 through north Monterey County will see much-needed improvement after more than three decades of missed opportunities, highway deaths and conflicting interests, as a groundbreaking ceremony June 10, 2011, marked the beginning of the Prunedale Improvement Project. The celebration was a bittersweet moment for people who lost friends or family on this dangerous stretch of road and for those who remember it didn’t have to wait this long. In remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony, Monterey County Supervisor Lou Calcagno noted that attendees were standing on the spot where a bypass had been planned, to go around the rural community of Prunedale with a freeway designed for safety and capacity without the constraints of the existing Highway 101. The Prunedale Bypass was one of many infrastructure projects stopped dead in their tracks when Governor Jerry Brown took office in 1975. That Highway 101 remains the only four-lane highway route north from Salinas is a reminder of the difficulty of bringing competing interests to agreement. Highway 101 is an artifact of a time, roughly between the 1920s and the 1960s, when all highways went through the hearts of communities. Prunedale was one of the places left behind when changes came. The old road, with its intersections and traffic lights, slowly became a major, heavily traveled highway, both literally and figuratively dividing the community. The traffic lights disappeared, but the intersections remained, against all common sense. The seven mile stretch of the Prunedale Improvement Project has 77 driveways and road entrances or exits, 11 per mile. Most urban areas resorted to the alternative of building freeways, either through or around populated areas. Whatever the effect on each community, new roads improved highway travel and commercial transportation. Prunedale remained one of the noteworthy bottlenecks, piling up a terrible record of highway carnage. Highway 101 is the only four-lane north-south highway route along California’s Central Coast for commercial traffic west of I-5. Its limitations have to be a consideration for businesses and merchants along its corridor. Monterey County’s $4 billion agriculture industry ships the bulk of its perishable product north via Highway 101, putting 2,100 18-wheelers on the road every day. The safety hazards of the Prunedale bottleneck threaten loss, delay and worse. Whether they supported or opposed highway improvements or alternate routes, Prunedale residents have suffered the burdens of a growing economy. The Prunedale Improvement Project will relieve some of that burden, but it will be a temporary solution. Without room for future expansion, room for necessary service roads and access between the east and west sides of the highway, or an alternate highway route, Prunedale will still be looking for a way to accommodate the increasing transportation needs of the region.
A long-overdue ceremony marked the start of construction.
|
|
E-mail BobPerkins@redshift.com Wednesday, November 09, 2011 12:07:40
|
