Changes coming to Highway 41 ‘death trap’ south of Fresno. Road closure, detour planned
Changes are coming next week to a stretch of Highway 41 south of Fresno, what officials vow will lead to other improvements along a six-mile stretch of two-lane highway that’s been the site of numerous accidents – many fatal.
State Assemblyman Jim Patterson and Fresno County Supervisor Buddy Mendes held a news conference in November with family members of those killed along the highway and members of Facebook group Widen Highway 41 to push for changes. The politicians held another Wednesday with transportation leaders to announce Highway 41 between Excelsior Avenue and Elkhorn Avenue will be permanently designated a no-passing zone.
Caltrans will close that stretch of Highway 41 in both directions from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday for construction, extending from approximately south of Caruthers to north of Lemoore. Construction crews will place double-yellow stripe down the center of the highway, reflective markers, and no passing signs. A signed detour route parallel to the highway will be available.
“Lives have been lost here unnecessarily,” Patterson said during Wednesday’s news conference at Highway 41 and Elkhorn, “and it’s been very difficult to accept the fact that this area was once a high priority that was supposed to have been built. Somehow we got overlooked again. I think that’s coming to an end. ... One of these days we will stand here together and we will celebrate the fact that this is four lanes and we have achieved the completion of this gap.”
Patterson has called this stretch a “death trap” and talked about people killed in accidents along it, including 40-year-old Kenneth Atkins of Madera, killed in a head-on crash on his way to Naval Air Station Lemoore in September. Patterson said accidents in this area have nearly doubled over the past five years, and also noted upgrades are needed on other highways in the central San Joaquin Valley.
Mendes, who also serves as board chairperson of the Fresno County Transportation Authority, called the accidents along Highway 41 a “tragedy.”
“We know this is just a temporary fix, like Jim (Patterson) said,” Mendes said of next week’s roadwork. “We just started. We just basically got in the car and started it up. We’ve got a long ways to go, and at the end of the trip we’ll have a four-lane built here.”
Speakers also thanked Caltrans for being receptive to their concerns and eager to find a solution.
“Safety continues to be our No. 1 priority,” Caltrans District 6 Director Diana Gomez said. “For the past couple of months, we have been meeting with citizens and leaders to listen to their concerns, engage in conversations, and really come up with a plan of action.”
After the section becomes a no passing zone next week, Gomez said the next step will be to install a median barrier to separate the two lanes. Construction on that could start next year, Gomez said.
Lee Ann Eager, a California Transportation Commission commissioner and president and chief executive officer of the Fresno County Economic Development Corporation, said construction on this section of Highway 41 is “on the top of my list to get funded.”
“It takes a village to get these things accomplished,” Eager said, “and this is the team that can get it done.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
