Pacific Grove Motorists Need a Third Route Out of Town

By Scott Miller

Motorists routinely encounter absolute gridlock leaving Pacific Grove over the Holman Highway or through New Monterey. We can develop a third option for locals if we try.

In 2003, while I was Pacific Grove's police chief, I attended several meetings organized by the City of Monterey to discuss alternatives for traffic flow in the Lighthouse Avenue corridor between Pacific Grove and Monterey. These meetings included Monterey's traffic engineer, additional staff, elected officials, and community members.

During that process I learned that Monterey officials, though very pleasant and professional, had little interest in minimizing the impact of their traffic planning on Pacific Grove, other than a willingness to synchronize signal lights between the two jurisdictions as you enter Pacific Grove on Lighthouse Avenue. Their primary concern was appeasing business owners in New Monterey by expanding parking zones and re-installing left turn lanes. The current plans, last I checked, include reducing the two lanes in each direction to one lane in each direction between Pacific Grove and Monterey.

Their secondary concern was appeasing residents on Hawthorne Street, who were adamantly opposed to the original suggestion of making Hawthorne (the two lane street running parallel to Lighthouse one block south) a two lane, one way street into Monterey, which would have likely eased the commute from Pacific Grove into Monterey. The residents didn't want high speed commuter traffic through their somewhat residential neighborhood, and the Lighthouse Avenue business community didn't want to lose traffic passing by their store fronts. I can understand their concerns, but the impact of these changes as currently proposed will, in my opinion, exacerbate the existing gridlock for Pacific Grove motorists.

I began to consider potential alternatives to ease our traffic congestion. There are some excellent alternatives, but the most efficient are also the most expensive. For example, the interchange at Highway 1 and Highway 68 could be converted into a "flyover," which would eliminate the stop light and most of the Highway 68 bottleneck by creating an underpass for traffic entering Pebble Beach and traffic heading towards Pacific Grove. There are currently no plans in the works for such improvements, which means any proposal for improvement is at least ten years away, (if such a proposal could ever be funded in these days of reduced State spending on traffic concerns). The Transportation Agency of Monterey County has no such proposal in their list of future projects for which they are seeking an increase in sales tax. Monterey's plans for Lighthouse Avenue don't provide any relief. And the chances of Pebble Beach willingly waving us through their gates to allow a third route option out of town are somewhere between slim and none. Besides, by the time you get lost wending your way through Pebble Beach, almost any route is faster.

The only possible solution is through military property, either through the Defense Language Institute (top of the hill) or the historic Presidio (bottom of the hill). Any alternative through the Presidio property has to be done affordably and without compromising military security. A route through the upper campus seems unlikely, due to the dormitories, classrooms, facilities, and topography. In theory a bypass to Monterey could be cut at the south end of the facility, accessed off of Highway 68 at a point past the Pacific Grove city limits, but the cost would be in the many millions. Environmental damage would be unattractive to most of us. Planning and construction would take years.

The solution has to go through the lower, historic area of the Presidio. My proposed concept is opening the Private Bolio gate to traffic headed east on Pine Street from Pacific Grove, then allow traffic down Private Bolio Road to join Lighthouse Avenue just prior to the tunnel and the Presidio curve. This would avoid the traffic congestion on Lighthouse through New Monterey by allowing a third alternative for Pacific Grove residents familiar with the proposed route, accomplishing what the old routes through the Presidio accomplished. Tourists would stay on Lighthouse Avenue, being unaware of the alternative. This could be done securely and inexpensively by moving the fence on the west side of Private Bolio Road to the east side of the street, or by constructing an additional fence and leaving the other intact for added security. Private Bolio Road would be the only Presidio road directly impacted. There is currently a check point on Private Bolio for traffic entering the facility from Lighthouse Avenue. This could be moved to the remaining ingress points, or maintained in a reconfigured fashion.

Another attractive option would require the use of one additional Presidio street. Motorists headed down Private Bolio Road could be given the option of bypassing the tunnel by turning onto Corporal Ewing Road just prior to reaching Lighthouse Avenue. This road leads directly to Pacific Street, ideal for those heading to the medical offices in the Cass/Pacific Street area, or downtown Monterey.

Such a solution would obviously require the cooperation and consent of the military authorities, and there are other issues involved as well, but nothing insurmountable. I did discuss this proposal informally with the Monterey officials during the planning meetings, but have not discussed it with the military authorities as of yet.

I believe such a partnership is possible. The military establishment has historically been a great neighbor. I would like to think they would welcome a workable solution that wouldn't jeopardize their facility or troops, and could be done at minimal cost. There has been some movement in this direction (increased public access) as evidenced by the recent re-opening of the athletic fields to Monterey's recreation programs. We'll never know unless we try.

We need some leadership from our elected officials on issues like this, which have a direct bearing on our quality of life here in Pacific Grove. I'm more than willing to use my twenty-seven years of municipal government experience, including six years as Pacific Grove's Chief of Police, to help lead the way to achieve this desirable goal.

If you have any questions or comments on this issue, feel free to give me a call.

Scott Miller