Ladd/Southside project to be completed in January

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The Ladd Lane and Southside Road project that keeps evolving is scheduled to be completed by January 2025. The latest iteration, approved by the Hollister City Council in August 2023, will have a four-lane roadway with lit crosswalks, protected bike lanes, speed tables, radar speed signs and a traffic camera.

Public Works Director William Via told BenitoLink that bringing the roadway to its original design is estimated to cost $756,000 including a 20% contingency that is funded by Measure G, which voters approved in 2018 for an additional 1% sales tax for 30 years to primarily fund widening Hwy 25 and maintaining local roads. 

The estimated cost for the overall project—from four lanes to two wavy lanes and back to four lanes—is about $1.35 million. The original project, estimated at $596,000, was paid for by Transportation Development Act funds. 

Via said the city has paid $344,607 in total to date for the project.

The city began the project in 2022. The changes, aimed at slowing down vehicle traffic, included reducing the four lanes into two using sharp zig-zag-like lanes known as chicanes, traffic circles and delineators. The first striping, which the city called a mistake by the contractor, included sharp zig-zag-like lanes. That was later changed to rounded turns.

After the project was complete, community members and the San Benito County Civil Grand Jury raised concerns over the project including the limited accessibility for emergency vehicles and vehicles with trailers. In addition, some drivers used the traffic circles to do “donuts,” and there were complaints that the delineators reduced visibility, especially at night.

Hollister Mayor Mia Casey said the City Council is working to establish better parameters to address road projects so this does not happen again. 

The design attracted national attention when Jimmy Fallon included the project in his monologue. The City Council used the odd design to hold a community racing event.

Casey said the project was pushed forward without input from the neighborhood’s residents.

“It has to make sense to the community,” she said in regard to road design. 

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