The Davis Road Bridge Replacement and Road Widening Project consists of widening a key regional route that connects the two largest population centers in the County. Davis Road experiences daily congestion and does not have existing bicycle facilities. The Davis Road project creates an alternative transportation link between the City of Salinas and the City of Marina by widening the roadway and providing 8-foot bike lanes. The project also replaces a low-water crossing with a bridge that provides an all-weather crossing to maintain traffic flow on an important multimodal corridor and allow for planned future rapid transit service. County staff will provide a status and schedule update on the project to construct a new bridge over the low-water crossing.

The County is proposing to fund the bridge component with federal Highway Bridge Funds and county funds for the local match.  The construction of the road widening portion is partially unfunded due to the sunsetting of the Fort Ord Reuse Authority (FORA) and the loss of the FORA fees.  The County is actively looking to fill a funding gap of approximately $10 million. The overall project is estimated at about $70 million, with the bridge component being approximately 2/3 of the overall Project cost.

At the January 2021 TAMC Board Meeting, the Board authorized a request by the County of Monterey to program Regional Surface Transportation Program fair share funds to the Davis Road Bridge Replacement and Road Widening Project in the amount of $560,000. 

The existing Davis Road Bridge is located approximately 2 miles south of the City of Salinas. The existing bridge is typically closed from January to April due to high water levels in the Salinas River. The Preferred Project Alternative would demolish the existing bridge and replace it with a new four-lane, high-level bridge capable of withstanding a 100-year flood. The replacement bridge would be open for year-round use. Also as part of the Project, Davis Road will be widened from two lanes to four lanes for a distance of approximately 2.1 mi between Blanco Road on the north and Reservation Road on the south. The road widening is designed to accommodate the anticipated growth in traffic in the Salinas-Marina Corridor.

The Project will replace the existing low-water crossing over the Salinas River and widen Davis Road to four travel lanes. The project also includes traffic signal upgrades at the intersection of Davis Road and Blanco Road, a new traffic signal at Davis Road and Hitchcock Road, a new roundabout at Davis Road and Reservation Road, and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure enhancements. 

Bicycle and pedestrian features of the project include implementation of a bike lane (Class II) for the entire length of Davis Road, including bike markings and intersection improvements to ease the movement of vehicles and bikes. The project also proposes to control the access points onto Davis Road to minimize the mud-tracking on the shoulder that results from agricultural vehicles/equipment movements. 

The project is in the final design, right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation phase. The County is actively negotiating with a number of the property owners for acquisition of the easements necessary to construct the Project while applying to grant opportunities to fund the construction phase.