May 2021 Edition

Major work is happening in downtown and Chinatown Fresno. Crews have kicked off work at the Tulare Street and Ventura Street underpasses. Both underpasses will serve as grade separations eliminating the current Union Pacific railroad crossings, allowing traffic to travel underneath the freight line and future high-speed rail lines. Both underpasses will be more than 20-feet below grade and will include pedestrian access.

In Construction Package 1, work is progressing at the Road 27 structure in Madera County. On the eastside of the structure, crews recently placed concrete to form the backwall of the structure. Crews continue to haul embankment on the west side of the structure and approximately 150,000 cubic yards of embankment fill has been hauled to date. Coming up, crews will be placing concrete to form 1,800 feet of concrete barrier along the bridge.

In anticipation for a full road closure along Elkhorn Avenue, crews conducted road work along the Fowler-Elkhorn bypass. Elkhorn Avenue, between Clovis and Fowler avenues in Fresno County will be closed for construction of an overcrossing through February 2023.

With the deck and superstructure nearly complete at the South Avenue Grade Separation completed in Fresno County, crews are now paving the structure and installing guard rail along the structure. The intersection at South and Cedar avenues is still closed for roadwork. When complete, the South Avenue Grade Separation will take traffic over the existing BNSF and future high-speed rail lines.

At Davis Avenue, crews are working on the mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) coping, the portion of the retaining wall that hides the top edge of the facing panels. Next, crews will proceed with installing falsework for the future overcrossing that will take traffic over the high-speed rail lines.

At State Route 43 in Fresno County, crews are working on the footings and columns on east side of SR 43 for the future Tied Arch Bridge. Ironworkers are finishing up rebar while carpenters are working on rebar spaces and dobles. Rebar spacers are used to reinforce rebar as its assembled in place. Wire dobles are used to suspend rebar in freshly poured concrete. Concrete will be placed to form the abutments of the structure in the near future.

At the Tule River Viaduct in Tulare County, traffic has been rerouted to allow crews to begin substructure work including drilling and setting rebar cages for the future columns of the viaduct. More than 75 columns will need to be drilled and installed to carry high-speed trains over the existing BNSF rail line, State Route 43, and the Tule River. When complete, the Tule River Viaduct will be more than 3,573 feet long.

At Wasco Viaduct in Kern County, crews recently completed first concrete pour on the box girder section at the north side of the Wasco Viaduct. At the center of the viaduct, crews are working to bring the box section and pergola sections together. On the west side, crews are erecting falsework that will connect both sides together while on the east side, crews can be seen drilling and placing rebar cages for the last seven columns.

On the west side of McCombs Road, crews are hauling embankment fill for the future overcrossing. Crews have also installed the mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) panels and are now working on falsework for the posts, stringers, and beams for the structure.