LOST HILLS, Calif. (KERO) — Monday, many members of organizations affiliated with the project celebrated, now as many head for the coast to enjoy a long weekend, we see how travelers are feeling about the project wrapping up.
- Caltrans Public Information Officer Alex Aguilera said the focus of the project was to expand the road to alleviate congestion and reduce the probability of accidents on the highway by allowing more space. The project also worked to improve pedestrian safety and alleviate congestion by adjusting the on and off ramps at the I-5 / CA-46 junction.
- 23ABC spoke with several travelers who noted the construction associated with the project was a pain, but necessary to improve safety through the area.
- While the construction on the Kern County side of Highway 46 is completed, construction on Highway 46 is still ongoing. 23ABC's sister station, KSBY, has been covering that project and the latest information can be found on their website.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
As we head into the Labor Day holiday weekend, many are making the trip west toward the coast, and after the conclusion of the Highway 46 widening project, the trip hopefully should be a little bit easier.
I’m Sam Hoyle, your Lost Hills neighborhood reporter, the project concluded with a ribbon cutting earlier this week to celebrate more than 20 years of work and now people are ready to celebrate.
The Highway 46 widening project broke ground in July 2000, to make changes to what was colloquially known as 'Death Alley.'
“The whole purpose of this project was to improve traffic flow throughout the 46 corridor. The purpose was to reduce these accidents and improve some of the safety elements along the corridor as well. We hope that with this project, we’ll see fewer collisions,” said Alex Aguilera
That’s Alex Aguilera, public information officer for Caltrans District Six. Like he said, the project aimed to create a safer path, but what did they do? Previously this stretch was just two lanes and now it’s been expanded to four lanes with a median in the center of the road to provide a bit more space for drivers. The project also features some changes to the off and on ramps at [Highway 46] and [Interstate 5], as well as upgrades to areas around Lost Hills to improve pedestrian safety, but that’s a topic for a different day.
Back at Blackwell’s Corner, 23ABC spoke with a few travelers like Jeffrey Van Dyke. Van Dyke said he’s been traveling the route for a few years to spend time with family and said he couldn’t believe that the road was only two lanes to begin with.
“Could you imagine this road being a two-lane?” asked 23ABC.
“No. I couldn’t. This road gets busy, especially on the holidays and weekends, so I couldn’t imagine it,” said Van Dyke.
Jenny Rosales said for years, she and her family would travel west from Bakersfield to head to the beach and noted her husband faced many challenges working on the stretch of road.
"My husband had a business as a tow truck driver. So from the age of 18, he was making this run, and he remembers that it was super dicey, and, you know, difficult to pull the trucks off the road, difficult to get traffic going again. So this is wonderful," said Jenny Rosales
While this portion of the construction may be wrapped up for Kern County, travelers may encounter a bit more crossing over into [San Luis Obispo] county, we’ll have the story from our sister station about that in this story on our website. At Blackwell's Corner, I'm Sam Hoyle, your neighborhood reporter.
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