SLO County city wants 7,000 new jobs in tech corridor. But what about traffic?
It might not seem like it now, but in just a few years, Paso Robles’ Airport Road could be virtually unrecognizable.
Its dry, weed-ridden and vacant plots could turn to thriving vineyards and shopping spaces and horizontal space jets could neighbor private planes at the Paso Robles Municipal Airport — at this point in time, the opportunities are seemingly endless for this eager technology corridor.
With already established businesses like Sensorio — expecting its millionth visitor sometime this summer — a proposed community hub, a large parcel of land up for sale and an airport with big goals of achieving spaceport status, this corridor may soon be hustling and bustling with new employees, shoppers and tourists by the thousands.
But how can a road in disrepair support all of those people and traffic?
That’s the $120 million question, and there are a few strategies that investors, the city and state have at the unsignaled intersection at Airport Road and Highway 46.
Privately funded, short-term traffic solutions
Soon up on the docket for city approval along Airport Road is The Landing, an $800 million community hub project proposed at the old boys’ school, which has been essentially abandoned since it closed in 2008.
Owner and developers Majestic Realty dreamed up the million square foot build when it purchased the 135-acre plot in 2021, working closely with the city, stakeholders and Paso residents for input on the project’s purpose and design.
Current renderings feature vineyards, retail, restaurants, hotels and a conference center, anticipated to create nearly 2,700 new and permanent jobs, not including the 3,200 it could provide in construction too.
With this in mind, Majestic Realty also included transportation improvements in its plan to support the area’s anticipated growth.
Majestic Reality executive vice president Phillip Brown told The Tribune that once the project is officially approved by the City Council — likely this summer — the realty company would ensure all traffic infrastructure is secured before anything else is actually built on the property.
Pointing to a map overview of the entire tech corridor that is Airport Road, Brown said that The Landing project would install two double lanes, pedestrian walk ways and a landscaped median near its immediate area.
“Then you go from Dry Creek (Road) down to 46, and that road needs a lot of help,” he said. “So we’re going to jointly work with the city on resurfacing and fixing Airport Road.”
As part of its proposed plans, Brown said that Majestic would pay for a temporary traffic light to be installed at the intersection of Airport Road and Highway 46.
“That’s our responsibility, not the city’s,” he said. “When I say it’s temporary, eventually there are plans for a broader infrastructure fix to this area, but the costs right now today are anywhere from $80 million to $120 million, so it’s a substantial.”
How The Landing could eventually help the city obtain such funding is through the tourism tax it’s estimated to bring in — which is about $35 million combined annual city, county and state tax revenue and $11.8 million annual revenue for the city’s general fund once operations settle, according to Majestic’s financial plans shared with The Tribune.
“That’s why we see the (traffic) signal as kind of the low-hanging fruit to get everybody started,” Brown said. “You start at the sales tax, you start at the TOT. All of a sudden, now the city’s starting to receive money, the county’s starting to receive money, the state is receiving money, and that helps to unlock all this.”
The city’s long term traffic strategies
Paso Robles economic development manager Paul Sloan told The Tribune that the city must address the intersection at Airport Road and Highway 46 quickly as the area continues to grow.
This growth includes the airport that’s currently pursuing a spaceport license to authorize horizontal space jet launches and invite space tech into the area.
Without even having received a license yet, the potential spaceport was already noticed by local company Zone 5 Technologies that’s expanding to the airport in August, also bringing in 200 more jobs.
“A two-lane road with an unsignalized connection to Highway 46 is a documented choke point for traffic and a growing safety concern as employee counts rise,” Sloan said. “A region positioning itself for a 2028 spaceport license cannot present aerospace investors with a two-lane, unsignalized entrance. The signal is basic infrastructure credibility for the corridor’s ambitions.”
What the city eventually would need at the intersection is an overpass, Sloan said, but a $120 million bill is a big pill to swallow.
Luckily, Highway 46 is state-owned, requiring help from the state, city and its affiliates which could possibly make a price like this more realistic, Paso Robles City Manager Chris Huot said.
“Through this collaboration, the city, SLOCOG, and Caltrans have successfully advanced the project through the environmental review process and completed portions of the preliminary design,” Huot said. “However, funding for right-of-way acquisition and construction has not yet been secured, which remains the primary need to moving the project forward.”
Looking into other options, Huot said that an underpass might save the city a few bucks, mimicking another $12.2 million North County repair, the Wellsona Road Safety Improvement Project.
“City staff has been evaluating whether a similar type of improvement could be a viable option for the Airport Road/State Route 46 area,” he said. “An undercrossing could potentially reduce overall project costs, reduce construction and logistical challenges, and potentially allow for implementation sooner than a traditional grade-separated interchange.”
A more in-depth evaluation of this option is to be reviewed by the city later this year, Huot said.
But if anything is important to Paso Robles residents, its road repairs.
Huot said that despite the need to update the tech corridors roads, the city must also pay attention to its other crumbling traffic ways.
Within the next two years, the city is investing $25 million into road repairs after the city’s adopted budget hearing in June.
Huot said that the current and planned transportation investments include the Creston Road project, the 24th Street Bridge Improvement Project, the Niblick Road Active Transportation Improvements, and Commerce Way Road Rehabilitation.
