State OKs $33 million to fix Fresno County highway ‘death trap.’ When will work begin?
A notorious six-mile stretch of Highway 41 that’s been dubbed a “death trap” in southern Fresno County will be widened in coming years after state transportation leaders approved $33 million for the effort on Wednesday evening.
At its meeting in San Diego, the California Transportation Commission gave a green light to almost 40 transportation and highway projects in its Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, including money for the “Excelsior Expressway,” a segment of Highway 41 north between Elkhorn and Excelsior avenues with one lane for northbound traffic and one lane for southbound traffic, until recently separated by a painted line at the center of the pavement.
It’s a section that has languished as a dangerous two-lane road for years – one of the deadliest in Fresno County – after stretches of the highway to the north and south were widened into an expressway with two lanes in each direction, separated by a broad median strip.
In a three-year span from 2018 through 2020, that portion of the highway has experienced seven fatal crashes that claimed nine lives and left eight other people injured.
State Assembly Member Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, called that area of Highway 41 a “death trap” as he threw his support behind efforts by residents in the rural communities of Riverdale and Caruthers to convince the state to pony up the funds to finish the widening that was planned, but never completed.
While the vote formally adopted the 2022 transportation improvement program, the money to widen Highway 41 isn’t scheduled for spending until the 2024-25 fiscal year. At that time, the money will be combined with about $13 million from Fresno County Measure C, a local half-cent sales tax for transportation needs, and with about $17.3 million in other state highway money.
Patterson’s office said construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2025. In the meantime, Caltrans designated the area a no-passing zone and last year installed concrete dividers to separate the northbound and southbound lanes.
Despite a three-year wait for construction to start, getting the money budgeted is a victory for advocates of the project.
“This has been a very long and emotional process,” said Lorna Roush, a local resident who is among the administrators of a Widen 41 group on Facebook. “On behalf of the surviving families, community members, and the public who travels this stretch, I want to thank everyone involved. Without this group effort, we would not have achieved this life-saving goal.”
Roush’s efforts on the Widen 41 project, after losing a family member to a crash on the road in September 2020, led Patterson to name her as the 2021 Woman of the Year for his 23rd Assembly District.
Fresno County Supervisor Buddy Mendes of Caruthers, whose District 4 encompasses southwestern Fresno County, said he was excited when he learned that the money was approved. “This incomplete section of highway has been dangerous for drivers and too many lives have been lost,” Mendes said.
Patterson was also pleased with the state commission’s long-awaited vote approving the money. “What a lot of people said we couldn’t do, we did,” he said Wednesday. “It took a lot of people to get where we are today – leaders in our community who wouldn’t take no for an answer. I’m grateful to have been a part of it.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 6:22 PM.
