As a booming technology industry continues to spur development in the San Francisco Bay Area, communities such as Gilroy and San Benito County are experiencing growth in their residential sectors.  For the South Bay’s primary transportation corridor, Highway 101, the implications of this growth are increased traffic congestion and delays.

For that reason, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority hired DJP&A to complete the environmental review for a plan to widen a 7.6-mile stretch of Highway 101 between the City of Gilroy and State Route 129.  The planned highway design includes reconstruction of the Highway 101/State Route 25 interchange, addition of one general travel lane in each direction, construction of auxiliary lanes and frontage roads, and new bicycle/pedestrian facilities.

Principal Project Manager John Hesler was the Environmental Lead for this project, and brought to the team a unique approach of mitigating environmental impacts by design.  Through early coordination and feedback with the civil engineering design team, he helped shape a highway widening project that minimized impacts to farmland and habitat for endangered species.