Clovis to close Shaw Avenue at Loma Vista. What’s the project?
An underpass construction project in Clovis requires a temporary Shaw Avenue closure next to Loma Vista Marketplace shopping center in late 2026.
As part of the city’s eastward expansion and the development of the Loma Vista neighborhood, Clovis began planning the Shaw Avenue widening project in 2014. The ultimate goal is to widen Shaw Avenue to three lanes in each direction from De Wolf Avenue to McCall Avenue, and to construct an underpass structure at Sanders Avenue, according to a city document.
The city finished the first phase of the project in March, widening lanes from Leonard Avenue to McCall Avenue. The second phase requires a temporary closure of Shaw Avenue between De Wolf Avenue and Leonard Avenue for four weeks later this year.
The brief closure is due to public safety concerns during construction. The road will be excavated to a depth of 20 feet, and the operations will involve semi-trucks and heavy construction equipment, staff wrote in the report.
The construction, which comes with the road closure, is tentatively scheduled for October, staff said in the report.
After the four-week closure, Shaw Avenue will reopen and continue with the remaining widening construction.
Some business owners at Loma Vista Marketplace petitioned the city in January 2024 to maintain traffic during the construction. City officials stated in the report that their request could not be granted due to significant public safety concerns.
Will Dyck and Philip Neufeld, the representatives of merchants at Loma Vista Marketplace, wrote a letter to the council in support of the construction proposal, saying that they understand the road closure arrangements. Dyck owns the space that The Fresno Bee rents for its newsroom in downtown Fresno.
The businesses requested that the construction be scheduled outside of the November and December holiday retail period.
“These months are among the highest-traffic and highest-sales periods for retail centers, restaurants, service businesses, and grocery-related activity,” the letter said. “For that reason, we would strongly prefer that the work occur in October or earlier.”
