Jesse Torrez’s daily commute between Los Banos and San Jose — consistently rated among the worst in the nation — takes him past the giant holding tank known as San Luis Reservoir, whose shoreline hugs and even crosses Highway 152 on the way to Pacheco Pass.
“Sometimes you can practically reach out and touch (the water),” Torrez said.
Over the past two years, Torrez has taken notice of ongoing construction activity around the 2 million acre foot reservoir. He’s seen heavy equipment working on the earth dam that rises above the highway and dump trucks delivering tons of material. He knew something major was going on.
But not once — at least not until I became the bearer of bad news — did Torrez have any knowledge or understanding that federally approved plans to raise Sisk Dam and expand the capacity of San Luis Reservoir would make his already taxing commute even worse.
“That’s very depressing,” the solar company executive said. “I can’t imagine the mess. I don’t even want to imagine.”