"It is not Tonka trucks. These are big trucks and you better get out of the way when we come through."
Ready or not here it comes. Wrecking balls will start swinging early next year on projects connected to High Speed rail, and it could impact how you get around.
Even if you never set foot on a high speed train its power could ripple into your life.
Visible construction is set to begin in downtown Fresno at the start of next year.
The High Speed Rail Authority will begin destruction of the outdated Tuolumne Street Bridge that currently carries traffic over the existing rail road tracks.
“Because our train, we would not then be able to run at high speed. And as part of the safety requirements, in order for us to run at 220 miles (an hour) nobody can stop for our train. So you either have to go over or under us. So that is the big safety benefit,” said Diane Gomez with the High Speed Rail Authority.
The bridge will be closed for a year, forcing drivers to find other ways to get around downtown.
Once re-opened, it and Tuolumne Street will both convert from one-way to two-way traffic. The bridge at Stanislaus will then be torn down and not replaced.
But this bridge merely signals the start of many more changes coming to Fresno in the next year.
Gomez points out numerous streets from downtown to Herndon and beyond will soon become underpasses or overpasses to make way for the train.
The bridges will span both the Union Pacific tracks and the new high speed tracks.
“And that is the one benefit of our project is nobody will have to wait for a train anymore. At Herndon. At Shaw. At McKinley. At Olive. So nobody will have to wait for a train anymore. Not even in the downtown area,” Gomez said.
While multiple streets will go over the tracks, a couple such as Herndon, Tulare, and Ventura streets will go under.
"for us to be able to run at 220 miles, nobody could be able to stop for us. So you either have to go over or under,"-Diane Gomez, High Speed Rail Authority
The decision whether to go over or under is based on construction constraints.
The more heavily traveled roadways like Shaw and Herndon will remain in operation during construction.
A section of Golden State Boulevard is permanently closing and will be replaced with high speed tracks. The train will also run in a deep trench along the side of Roeding Park.
Another major change that will be beginning early in the spring is bumping a 2.5-mile section of highway 99 about 100 feet to the west.
The move is necessary to squeeze the tracks in between existing lines and the highway.
Its sounds simple, but this is not like playing with child’s toys says Garth Fernandez with Caltrans.
“It is so easy when you are a kid to pick something up and put it over there,” Fernandez said, “It is not Tonka trucks. These are big trucks and you better get out of the way when we come through.”
Fernandez says moving a highway in an urban environment involves intensive prep work, moving utilities, demolishing buildings and laying complex foundations for the new road all while keeping the heavily traveled highway open.
“We are not planning to shut the highway completely. So we are going to build it incrementally. So we will build a piece of the new section. We will move traffic over to the new section and then we will work on the old section. We plan to maintain three lanes of traffic at all times,” Fernandez said.
There are still some properties that have not been acquired for the project but Fernandez is confident they will all be purchased by the time construction begins in April. All of those properties are currently in the eminent domain process.
Effects on highway travel will simply involve paying attention to lane patterns but bigger changes are also coming for the on-ramps.
Although road construction is perhaps the most notable impact coming to Fresno in the next year the rail construction will also lead to smaller but important changes.
Sally Caglia’s father was instrumental in saving the historic sign welcoming visitors to Fresno, which it calls the Best Little City in the USA, along Vann Ness Boulevard at what was once the main entrance to the city.
When the high speed rail comes through, the road it is on will dead end leaving a welcome sign that with no one to welcome.
High speed rail has agreed to move the sign, likely to Mariposa Street directly in front of what will eventually be the main train station.
Caglia is pleased the sign, which has been the frequent target of thieves and vandals, is being saved calling it a piece of Fresno’s soul.
“The realization now is that we need to preserve and protect these pieces of Fresno history. So we know who was are and what we are. And what those meant to us,” Caglia said.
At least five streets in downtown will not get bridges, they will close permanent at the tracks. Those streets are Divisadero, Mono, Kern, Van Ness, and Stanislaus.
It’s not clear how much it will cost to move and renovate the sign or if the decades old landmark can even survive the relocation.
Detailed maps and links to the projects and detours are available here.
