US 101 is the major backbone of the Central Coast’s transportation system connecting the greater Los Angeles region to the San Francisco Bay Area. It serves local, regional, and interregional travel needs (including business, recreation, tourism, commuting, freight and goods movement, and national defense transport). The segment of US 101 between the City of Salinas and Chualar is a key freight corridor serving agricultural farm-to-market trips. It is also an important transportation link between south Monterey County and Salinas for employment, education, and health care. There are several at-grade unsignalized intersections on US 101 between the Main Street interchange in Chualar and the Airport Boulevard interchange in Salinas that primarily serve freight traffic and local access. As such, primary safety issues in this corridor relate to freight traffic conflicts trying to access the side roads with direct links to US 101.
The Transportation Agency hired a consultant team to develop the US 101- South of Salinas Corridor Study that will identify projects needed to convert the expressway into a freeway. This requires the elimination of all at-grade turning movements at uncontrolled intersections along US 101 between the City of Salinas and Chualar. A primary objective is to eliminate left turns along this section of US 101 that directly access side roads. Frontage roads are planned to provide a safe route for the diverted freight traffic while reducing congestion on mainline US 101. The study will also identify mitigation measures to address potential traffic impacts from the diverted traffic expected to use roads in the City of Salinas, Chualar, and the adjacent unincorporated area.
The traffic circulation analysis and preliminary project improvements are ready to be reviewed by the public. This public outreach will play an important part of the selection of a preferred alternative and the phasing of future construction projects. The Transportation Agency staff and consultant team met with representatives from the City of Salinas, County of Monterey and Caltrans to review the preliminary concepts and gain input on potential impacts of the proposed improvements. Following are issues identified as part of these meetings:
- the study should evaluate the condition of county frontage roads and identify capital improvements needed to serve additional truck traffic
- improvements to the frontage roads should include features that improve bicycle and transit service
- the roads in the City of Salinas should be evaluated for potential traffic impacts and reflect proposed improvements planned for intersections near the US 101 interchange at Airport Road
- the proposed improvements should directly serve diverted truck traffic and should not induce traffic to use frontage roads intending to avoid congestion
- Caltrans will be involved with the production of the environmental documents to ensure the approach used is consistent with past work and can be completed efficiently
A successful project needs to plan improvements in context with community values. The Transportation Agency staff and consultant team is scheduled to meet with the SOS US 101 Traffic Safety Alliance, a group of community members and project stakeholders. This meeting will review the corridor study preliminary concepts and discuss the remaining work on the corridor study, including the upcoming public outreach. This meeting with the Traffic Safety Alliance had not occurred at the time this staff report was prepared. Information provided by the Traffic Safety Alliance will be shared with the Board at the June meeting and used to finalize the agenda for the formal public outreach.
The public outreach is being scheduled to occur in July and will primarily consist of a virtual public meeting using a town hall setting. The preliminary study concepts will be presented followed by an opportunity for the stakeholders and other community members to ask questions, provide comments and share thoughts on this project. The Transportation Agency has also developed a website for the US Highway 101 South of Salinas project (US 101 South of Salinas Project Website - Transportation Agency for Monterey County (tamcmonterey.org). The dedicated website includes project information and provides another opportunity for public input.
Information from the public outreach will lead the selection of the preferred feasible alternative that will be conducted as part of the environmental documentation which is scheduled to start after completion of this study. Transportation Agency staff continues to monitor funding programs and will develop funding requests to address the anticipated funding shortfall for project construction.