More headaches for Fresno drivers, merchants? Major high-speed rail road closure coming
One of the major arteries flowing between Highway 99 and downtown Fresno will be shut down for more than a year to allow for work on California’s high-speed rail project.
Ventura Street will be closed between F and H streets, near the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and the city’s historic Chinatown district, beginning April 26 through most of 2022, according to information from the California High-Speed Rail Authority and its construction contractor, Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons.
The closure is to enable construction of an underpass to carry Ventura Street beneath the existing UPRR freight rail tracks, the future high-speed rail tracks, and G Street.
Work on the underpass was originally anticipated to begin in late 2017, but was slowed by delays in relocating other utilities in the area to make way for the major construction.
Similar work has been underway for months on nearby Tulare Street, less than a half mile to the northwest. That, too, was once scheduled to begin in the fall of 2017, but was ultimately pushed back to reduce the effects on businesses in the Chinatown district until work was ready to begin in earnest, said Toni Tinoco, a spokeswoman for the rail authority.
In 2017, Chinatown merchants expressed serious misgivings over how the construction would disrupt traffic into the historic district. Both Tulare and Ventura streets, as well as nearby Fresno Street, are major thoroughfares that would-be patrons use to reach Chinatown businesses and restaurants on E, F and G streets between Ventura and Fresno streets.
Those concerns were further fueled by the experiences of businesses a few miles to the north, where a new Clinton Avenue interchange and overpass above Highway 99 was built to accommodate the future high-speed rail tracks. Businesses on the east side of the freeway saw commerce tumble during the six-month construction period, and some were unable to stay afloat.
Work on both the Tulare and Ventura underpasses are on a much longer time frame. Both involve construction of a temporary “shoo fly” track, onto which Union Pacific freight trains will be diverted while work on the underpass continues below and new freight tracks are built. Once the first portion of the underpass has been dug, freight trains will move to the new main track and the rest of the underpass will be completed.
Tinoco said Union Pacific gave its approval to shoo fly design just last year, allowing work on Tulare Street to move forward. The rail agency is hopeful that Tulare Street – which runs through the heart of Chinatown – will be opened in summer 2022 with its new underpass beneath the railroad tracks and G Street.
“When Tulare was closed, we understood the impact that it made both to downtown and Chinatown,” Tinoco said. “With Ventura Street, we wanted to make sure we didn’t close it any sooner than we needed to.”
The closure announcement for Ventura Street indicates that construction could last through the end of next year, but Tinoco said “hopefully we can have Ventura open by the fall” of 2022.
Tinoco said the rail agency has been meeting with Chinatown merchants to keep them abreast of the project schedule, and a larger public Zoom video conference is planned next month to provide an overview of the work before the Ventura Street closure takes effect.
Detours will be in place for drivers to get around the road closure. Traffic heading northeast on Ventura Street from Highway 99 to downtown Fresno will be diverted north on F Street to Mono Street, Mono Street to Broadway Street, and then back onto Ventura. Westbound traffic from downtown will follow the opposite detour route .
Drivers on G Street will be diverted at Mono and Santa Clara streets onto F Street to get around the construction.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 11:25 AM.
