SBHS ceremony to commemorate Nash Road closure

Courtesy of San Benito High School:

San Benito High School will host a ceremony Monday marking the official closure of Nash Road where it bisects the campus.

The ribbon cutting is set for 10:30 a.m. It will involve the five district trustees and Superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum.

That portion of Nash will soon be closed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays now that the River Parkway bypass is functioning west and south of campus.

For decades, our high school has been divided in two parts, separated by Nash Road between West Street and Monterey Road. Students are often required to cross a busy Nash Road several times per day to get to their classes and athletic practices. The separation of the campus creates safety concerns and has never been ideal for campus and student cohesiveness.

Approximately two years ago, the San Benito High School District came together with San Benito County and the City of Hollister in the spirit of cooperation to devise an arrangement whereby traffic could be diverted around the school, rather than through the school, during the school day. After a lot of conversations, compromise, and open-public discussions, as well as meetings by all entities, the County Board of Supervisors, the Hollister City Council, and the San Benito High School Board of Trustees approved a plan to make this vision a reality.

A new road was constructed by the county, with county and district funds, to re-route vehicular traffic south of the campus from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday year round.

Nash Road will be closed to vehicular traffic between West Street and Monterey Road from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays. During the times that the road is closed to traffic, vehicles traveling east on Nash Road will have access onto the new road, south of the campus to San Benito Street. Vehicles traveling West on Nash Road will be able to utilize surface streets around the high school campus.

The district has funded and installed gates, traffic signals and measures to facilitate the road closure each day. Traffic signs will be put in place in both directions to notify drivers that the road ahead is closed.

The school district and local governments last week held a ribbon cutting for the new Riverside Parkway road that is the bypass around the campus portion of Nash Road.

See a video below from last week’s ribbon cutting: