Improving safety on Pajaro to Prunedale corridor

There’s been a major uptick in traffic along the Pajaro to Prunedale corridor and the Transportation Agency for Monterey County wants to make the area safer.

The Pajaro to Prunedale corridor is made up of Porter Drive and Salinas, Elkhorn, Werner, Hall, and San Miguel Canyon Roads.

Depending on the time of day and exact location, there are 26,000 cars on the road. Most of the drivers commute between Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.

“The improvement at Salinas Road and Highway 1 made it easier to turn off and avoid the traffic at Moss Landing. And also the improvements on 101 with the Prunedale Improvement Project made it easier to come that way from Salinas going to Santa Cruz. So we solved those two problems but in doing so we have a little bit of an issue growing in north county,” said TAMC spokesperson, Grant Leonard.

According to TAMC, in the last five years there have been 832 crashes on the corridor roads. Most of the accidents involved speeding drivers who ended up rear ending or broadsiding other cars.

Of the more than 800 crashes between Pajaro and Prunedale, the one intersection that has seen the most incidents is Castroville Boulevard and San Miguel Canyon. Other dangerous areas include Moro Road and San Miguel, Las Lomas Drive, Werner Road, Hall Road and pretty much of all downtown Pajaro.

In total, there have been 11 traffic deaths. Three of those deaths were bicyclists in the Salinas-Werner Road area where there are no shoulders or bike lanes. That’s where Maria Tapia has seen traffic grow over the years.

“Traffic, crashes, in the morning, there’s a lot of traffic. about 2-2:30, the traffic starts again but more, it’s bumper to bumper, sometimes it can take a few minute, I’m talking more than ten minutes,” said Tapia.

To curb the number of safety concerns TAMC is asking the public for recommendations to improve safety. All options are on the table, like adding more lanes of traffic, stoplights and roundabouts.

Monterey County Supervisor John Phillips said, “We need something at Castroville Boulevard, a roundabout or a signal, we need something there. If someone doesn’t stop to let you in, you can’t get through after 4 o’clock. At Las Lomas we need something there. There’s a signal there but then there’s an offset where people can’t get on or off and traffic moves fast through Las Lomas.”

The study is being paid for by a Caltrans grant with recommendations expected this fall.

Voter approved Measure X as well as SB 1 gas tax money may help pay for some of the construction.

TAMC is holding three community meeting this week. Two of them are Wednesday night at 6 p.m. One of the meetings is at the Hall District Elementary School, the other at the “Our Lady of the Assumption Church.”

A third meeting will be Thursday at the Prunedale Grange Hall at 6 p.m.