Fowler Avenue Road Reconstruction
The Surface Transportation Block Grant program (STBG) provides flexible funding that may be used by States and localities for projects to preserve and improve the conditions and performance on any Federal-aid highway, bridge and tunnel projects on any public road, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and transit capital projects. The Department submitted a STBG application for the Fowler Avenue Road Reconstruction project on September 29, 2023. We will know whether or not the project is funded by the end of January 2024.
Fowler Avenue between Elkhorn Avenue (High Speed Rail) and the Fresno County Line (Kings River) is a 2-lane Major Collector with dirt shoulders and travel lanes that vary in width from 10 feet to 12 feet (20-24 feet total). The road is in complete disrepair, exhibiting rutting, structural section failure throughout, alligator cracking, edge line cracking and longitudinal and transversal cracking in varying degrees of severity in which reconstruction of the roadbed is recommended.
The proposed project consists of reconstructing 4.2 miles of Fowler Avenue from Elkhorn Avenue to the Fresno County Line. The project will make improvements on 0.15 mile of Elkhorn Ave east of the High Speed Rail crossing at Fowler Avenue; continuing for 4.0 miles on Fowler Avenue from 0.1 mile north of Davis Avenue to 300 feet south of Murphy Avenue, skipping the roadway across the “A” Ditch and Grant Canal, and continuing to the County Line (Kings River Bridge). The roadway will be paved with hot mix asphalt over aggregate base. The project will slightly realign the road near Davis (shifting it west) to fit within existing Right of Way. This project will supplement funding for a proposedCMAQ project that will pave 8-foot shoulders on the roadway within the same limits.
The expected benefits of the project are to preserve the integrity of the roadway, improve driver safety and road performance, and improve pedestrian connectivity.
Should the project be awarded by the STBG review committee, the estimated project cost would be $6.6 million.
