US 101 is the 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. The primary safety issues along this corridor relate to farm truck traffic conflicts trying to access the side roads with direct links to US 101. This issue was partially addressed when signs were installed prohibiting trucks from making left and U-turns at select intersections along this corridor.

The Transportation Agency hired a consultant team to develop the US 101- South of Salinas Corridor Study that will identify projects needed to meet a long-term goal to convert US 101 from an expressway to a freeway. This requires the eventualelimination of all at-grade turning movements at uncontrolled intersections along US 101 between the City of Salinas and Chualar. A primary objective is to provide short-term alternatives to making left turns to directly access side roads. The project will identify general alignments of proposed frontage roads planned to provide a safe route for the diverted traffic and reduce congestion.

The traffic circulation analysis and preliminary project improvements are ready to be reviewed by the public. This public outreach will help identify a preferred feasiblealternative. Subsequent environmental work will develop the phasing plans of future projects. Following are issues identified as part of the public outreach conducted to date:

• the study should identify project components that can be implemented efficiently to provide safe alternatives to making left turn movements;
• these interim improvements should not unnecessarily delay the implementation of long-term solutions;
• the current capacity and pavement condition of existing county roads should be considered before proposing to reroute traffic from US 101
• improved bicycle and transit service should be incorporated into the projects to construct and upgrade frontage roads;
• City of Salinas roads 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 and frontage roads should directly serve diverted traffic from US 101 and should not promote the use of these alternative routes by drivers intending to avoid congestion; and,
• Caltrans will be involved with the production of the environmental documents to ensure the approach used is consistent with past work.

A successful project needs to plan improvements in context with community values. The second round of public outreach is scheduled to commence on August 18 with a virtual public meeting using a town hall setting. The conceptual plans 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 with a link provided below. The dedicated website includes project information and provides another opportunity for public input.

Information from the public outreach will lead to the selection of the preferred feasible alternative. Environmental documentation of this preferred feasible alternative is scheduled to start after completion of this study and will identify potential phasing opportunities. Transportation Agency staff continues to monitor funding opportunities and develop funding requests to address the anticipated funding shortfall for project construction.