No freeway bypass for tiny Hopland
Folks in Hopland have differing opinions on Caltrans' decision not to build a Highway 101 bypass around their tiny community.
MARK ARONOFF / THE PRESS DEMOCRATPublished: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 5:51 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 5:51 p.m.
Talk of building a Highway 101 bypass around Hopland has circulated for so many years that people in the three-block town in southern Mendocino County are taking in stride Caltrans' decision to shelve the plan.
“That bypass has been talked about for 40 years. It's not going to happen in my lifetime,” said Richard Paryz, manager of McDowell Valley Vineyards's tasting room in Hopland.
Bill Crawford, owner of McDowell Valley Vineyards, recalled sitting on an advisory committee for the bypass 20 years ago. When nothing materialized, he dropped out and quit keeping tabs on the project.
Still, area folks do have opinions about the impact a by-pass would have on the town of about 800 people located 10 miles south of Ukiah.
“I think it would hurt” business, said Caitlin Paul, who works at the Bluebird Cafe, a popular diner-style restaurant owned by her father.
“My sense is it would not be good for business,” agreed Sip! tasting room owner Bernadette Byrne. Several people had stopped in to check out or purchase wine at Sip! while passing through Hopland Tuesday morning, she said.
It is the type of sentiment that has played out for more than six decades as Highway 101 north of San Francisco has gradually been widened to freeway status. Business leaders in towns from Novato to Ukiah have warned of economic disaster from rerouting traffic out of their communities, while neighborhood interests have demanded an end to choking traffic.
The most recent 101 bypass diverts traffic around Cloverdale and the next to be built likely will be in Willits.
Caltrans dropped the Hopland bypass from its active project list late last month because of funding shortages. The project could be revived when funding opportunities arise or traffic congestion increases to a more critical point, said Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie. A proposal to widen several miles of Highway 101 north of Hopland from two lanes to four remains active, though unfunded, because it's smaller and less expensive, Frisbie said.
The cost of the bypass was estimated several years ago at about $450 million, Frisbie said. The widening project north of Hopland has an estimated cost of about $188 million, he said.
The Hopland bypass project has been under formal consideration since at least the mid-1980s but has never ranked high enough to get full funding, he said.
Paryz, the tasting room manager, believes businesses initially would suffer but that a bypass would ultimately be a boon to Hopland.
“It would be more of a destination. Right now, people are just driving through,” he said.
Tasting rooms have come to dominate downtown Hopland, which currently has six. Another half dozen wineries with tasting rooms are located within a few miles.
Hopland would attract a crowd of its own if there wasn't so much traffic, which makes it difficult to cross the main street, Paryz said.
On holidays and during major events, traffic backs up through the town. But it is not heavy enough on a daily basis to keep it high on the list of road projects that are funded these days, Frisbie said.
Without the constant stream of vehicles, Hopland could be more like Mendocino, said Sue Murphey, who works in sales and marketing at Brutocao Cellars.
“This is such a cute little town,” she said.
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