Partial closure of Torero Drive at Monterey-Salinas Highway begins Friday
SALINAS – A project developed by the Transportation Agency for Monterey County, as well as Monterey County, and residents of Serra Village and Toro Park, aims to help define a long-term solution to keep traffic from diverting off Monterey-Salinas Highway.
But in order to gather data on the road to a long-term solution, a partial closure of a street from Serra Village to Highway 68 begins this week and will end in the fall.
The Transportation Agency for Monterey County, Caltrans District 5 and the County of Monterey announced that a partial closure of Torero Drive, along Highway 68, will go into effect this Friday.
The “Toro Park Cut Through Traffic Pilot Project” closure will block southbound traffic on Torero Drive at the intersection of Bravo Court; thereby prohibiting vehicles from entering the highway from Torero Drive.
The partial road closure is a component of the “Toro Park Cut Through Traffic Pilot Project,” which will be in effect from July 12 through Oct. 1, according to TAMC. Fixed signs and changeable electronic messaging boards will be placed along Highway 68 and within Toro Park to inform motorists of the partial road closure.
“The pilot project is expected to be in place a week or two before school starts so that we can observe traffic and adjust accordingly,” said Doug Bilse, TAMC principal transportation engineer and project manager of the pilot project, in a press release. “We will be monitoring traffic throughout the pilot project phase and gathering feedback from community members. At that time, we will review traffic data and have permanent solutions to review.”
The “Toro Park Cut Through Traffic Pilot Project” is designed to re-route traffic that diverts from Reservation Road and Highway 68 into Serra Village and Toro Park during commute hours to avoid traffic congestion on Highway 68, according to TAMC. The project is also designed to address safety concerns and congestion in the residential Toro Park communities inundated with aggressive drivers who take Portola Drive as an alternate route and speed through a school zone to re-enter Highway 68 at Torero Drive.
The partial road closure will improve traffic flow and reduce the 20-minute queue many Salinas commuters experience each day, says TAMC. The transportation agencies are also working together to improve traffic signal operations, which will make the traffic flow better than it currently is. Based upon travel time studies conducted by TAMC, Toro Park residents might experience an increase for the off-peak trip to the peninsula that should take an extra 3-4 minutes, while a peak hour trip might add 7-8 minutes.
“We realize this hardship is needed to address safety concerns and are trying to identify a long-term solution that will reduce or eliminate this added travel time,” said Bilse.
The Toro Park Cut Through Pilot Traffic Project is a Measure X funded project. Measure X is the 2016 ballot measure approved by 67.7% of Monterey County voters to generate an estimated $20 million annually for a total of $600 million over thirty years through a retail transactions and use tax of a three-eighths’ of 1%. The revenue from the sales tax measure is used to fund transportation safety and mobility projects in Monterey County.
For more information about the Toro Park Cut Through Traffic Pilot Project, contact Doug Bilse, TAMC engineer and project manager, at 831-775-4413 or at doug@tamcmonterey.org. The public can also visit the TAMC website at www.tamcmonterey.org.
