Work to shrink Blackstone Ave. begins, with wider sidewalks, bike lanes planned
Construction is underway for a major road project that will reduce car lanes to make room for bicycles, pedestrians and bus platforms on the southern stretch of Blackstone Avenue — part of a corridor often referred to as the “spine” of Fresno.
Roadwork to reduce three vehicle lanes to two each way began June 8 on Blackstone — from Pine Avenue to State Route 180; and on Abby Street — from Olive to Highway 180. Multiple phases of traffic control are planned through October.
“We just encourage patience,” Fresno’s Director of Public Works Scott Mozier told The Bee. “We will have a little bit of congestion during construction, but want to emphasize that all businesses will remain open. This is really a shorter-term inconvenience for long-term gain and revitalization of the community.”
For $7.3 million in state grant funding, the “road diet” gives southern Blackstone its first major update since it stopped being a highway in the 1980s. It once served as the original alignment for California State Route 41 before being bypassed by the Yosemite Freeway, the current Highway 41.
It’s one of several projects that are part of the city’s larger strategy for the area to transition the vehicular-oriented corridor to a walkable, high-density, residential housing neighborhood, known as the Southern Blackstone Avenue Smart Mobility Strategy. It was initially approved in 2019 by the Fresno City Council after years of long-range planning and community outreach.
City planners and supporters see the area’s transformation as a key piece of the city’s future development to make areas that have been neglected for years, in terms of infrastructure upgrades and investment in housing, more multimodal and livable.
The southern stretch of the corridor has long been a hub for car dealerships and auto parts stores and is home to several restaurants and retailers. It has the busiest bus route in Fresno County.
In the past few years, the area has begun to boom with affordable housing and some temporary shelters, which have come with complaints of loitering and trespassing from many business owners.
Mozier said the city determined southern Blackstone is primed for this type of roadway reconfiguration. Traffic patterns don’t warrant three lanes each way, he said, and southern Blackstone carries less traffic than many of the four-lane roads in the city because Highway 41 runs parallel to it.
It’s also one of the deadliest streets for pedestrians in Fresno, which was ranked the seventh most dangerous city in the country for walking and biking by the nonprofit Smart Growth America. Blackstone saw 20 pedestrian fatalities between 2008 and 2022, according to the nonprofit’s data.
The plan includes eventually reducing the speed limit to 30 mph, from 40, along with planting street trees, additional landscaping and adding decorative lighting.
Councilmember Miguel Arias told The Bee he feels the project is necessary for safety, beautification, quality of life and is the right next step for long-term revitalization goals.
“Blackstone is a front and backyard of thousands of families who have suffered record fatalities when they’re simply walking on our sidewalks or riding their bikes,” Arias said. “They, too, deserve traffic that matches the neighborhood in which they live, and I’m hopeful that this will be the first step to provide that reality.”
Fresno developer and owner of Granville Homes, Darius Assemi, is a critic of the road diet. He told The Bee that as a cyclist, he would not want to bike along Blackstone because of its heavy vehicle presence, and shrinking the road will “further enhance the deterioration” of the merchants’ corridor.
Community reception online in forums such as Reddit has been mixed. Many commenters look forward to a transition toward better walkability, while others say the bike lanes will go unused. Some business owners have voiced concerns about potential traffic backups.
Blackstone’s long-range planning is coming to fruition
Councilmember Nelson Esparza has championed the Southern Blackstone Mobility Strategy since he joined the council in 2019, the year the plan was approved by council. He said it’s one of the city’s most “significant” long-range planning documents.
“It aligns with my vision for redevelopment and revitalization of our inner city,” Esparza told The Bee. “Within my district, that prime opportunity is on Blackstone Avenue. Next to downtown, it’s the lowest hanging fruit for revitalization, redevelopment, trying to implement some of these mixed-use projects.”
But even before Esparza arrived on the council, he said years of community outreach and work went into developing the strategy by Fresno’s long-range planning division.
Between the updated Tower Specific Plan, passed in 2025, and the latest update to the city’s comprehensive General Plan, approved in 2022, the entire Blackstone corridor was rezoned to mixed-use. That means, generally, that housing and other commercial projects are allowed to co-exist to promote walkable geographic areas where people can live, shop, eat out and access other services, all close to home.
The zoning changes allowed the city to open a housing project on McKinley and Blackstone, another on Clinton and Blackstone, and convert some of the area’s motels into temporary shelter use before being converted into affordable housing. A 114-unit affordable housing complex for veterans on Blackstone and Dakota avenues recently opened, along with another nearby complex with 41 affordable units.
Another project that routes the McKinley intersection under the railroad tracks just south of Fresno City College is scheduled to begin sometime this year.
What can drivers expect while navigating Blackstone’s construction zone?
“Road diet” construction kicked off last week and is expected to be completed in early October. Work began at the intersection of Blackstone and Olive and will progress south toward State Route 180.
As construction advances, multiple crews will be working simultaneously throughout the entire project area, according to Jill Aiello, projects and communications liaison for Fresno’s Department of Public Works.
Multiple phases of traffic control are planned, including single-lane restrictions in June and double-lane restrictions in July. Select intersection closures can be expected on some Sunday nights.
Initial traffic control setups will operate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. but will transition to 24‑hours a day as crews begin road improvements, installation of raised buffer medians and construction of elevated bus platforms, Aiello said.
The stretch currently being worked on at Blackstone Avenue is just the first phase of construction for this project. There’s a second phase between McKinley and Shields avenues, and a third phase between Shields and Dakota. Both are still in the planning process and slated to go out to bid and start construction sometime in 2027, according to Mozier. There is no proposal to reduce any travel lanes north of Dakota Avenue.
Construction is primarily funded through the state’s Regional Early Action Planning grant program.
This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 5:30 AM.