On Aug. 1 Los Banos residents will get a chance in a community workshop to express their opinions on plans to connect Vineyard Drive and Mercey Springs Road (SR165). One of the proposed designs that will be featured is a single-lane roundabout.
Mercey Springs Road isn’t the only road with a proposed roundabout. The intersection of State Route 152 (Pacheco Boulevard) SR-with Volta Road is also in the early stages of a roundabout.
The community workshop on Aug. 1, hosted by the Mark Thomas Company and Los Banos Public Works, will be held in the Los Banos Community Center from 6 to 8 p.m.
The Mercey Springs Road’s intersection has been left disconnected since Vineyard Drive’s construction. The earliest Google street map imagery shows the road being constructed in 2007. A small canal separates the two roads.
Vineyard Drive was built large and wide as a major thoroughfare just 100 feet from the white lines of the state route. According to some nearby residents on Facebook, it’s a known spot to test cars.
Despite being half a mile from the Ag Sports Plex where the city’s dog park and soon to be nine pickleball courts are, residents in the area must take up to a two-and-a-half-mile detour to get to the facility currently.
In an email to the Westside Express from Los Banos Public Works Director Charles Bergson, residents can expect “more efficient routes” with the intersection connected.
Bergson said the project’s total cost could be between four and five million dollars. As for the design decision to have a roundabout, Bergeson said, “This design is preferred” by Caltrans. The state reports “roundabouts are safer and more cost effective” than other designs,” Bergeson said.
In an email to The Westside Express, a Caltrans representative stated that it provides oversight on the Vineyard Roundabout.
The other proposed roundabout is 2.5 miles west of Los Banos on State Route 152 at the Volta Road intersection. The highway is divided by a 53-foot median and is a major route for commuters, travelers, and freight.
The proposed roundabout on Highway 152 currently does not have a scheduled community meeting but does have a website hosted by Caltrans. According to an email to The Westside Express from Caltrans Public Information Officer Brian Hooker, the roundabout is estimated to cost $16.1 million. Expected completion is by Dec. 2027.
“The purpose of the project is to reduce the number and severity of broadside collisions,” according to Caltrans website, citing “higher than average” broadside collisions at the intersection.
Caltrans’ website notes that “input from local partners such as the City of Los Banos, Merced County, and MCAG resulted in an agreement that a roundabout would be the most suitable solution.
Caltrans’ Project Manager Shridar Kidambi in an email told the Westside Express that the Highway 152 and Volta Road intersection project will be a “hybrid oval-shaped roundabout with eastbound and westbound circulatory sections having two lanes, and northbound and southbound circulatory sections having one lane.”
The project is only in its “project approval and environmental document phase,” said Kidambi. He added, “The design team is currently working on identifying design requirements.”
