A hundred traffic cones down, a thousand more to go
If it seemed for an extended period of months one could not travel anywhere in metro Bakersfield without being abruptly shepherded to merge by a row of traffic cones — if not halted entirely — it’s because that was in fact our reality. Still is, in places.
It has been, to borrow the word of the year, unprecedented. Never before has greater Bakersfield seen so much transportation funding — at least $1.4 billion — dedicated to its streets and highways in one relatively concentrated period of time.
We could, while at an idling standstill, always temper our annoyance by reminding ourselves how much better it will be when it’s all finished.
One project at a time it’s actually coming to pass, and where the earth movers continue to groan and lurch there is at least discernable progress.
One of the most visible of those projects is wrapping up: The 24th Street widening project, at least six years in the making, including three years of active construction, will essentially be complete on Oct. 2.
City transportation engineers expect the $43 million, six-lane arterial to be ready for prime time in two weeks, the last bit of roadside landscaping notwithstanding.
After Oct. 2, the arterial linking Highway 58 and the city’s Rosedale district to Highway 178 and east Bakersfield by way of downtown will basically need just three things, and shovels, brooms and a laptop will suffice to accomplish them. Workers will need only to plant a few remaining shrubs, sweep up their trash and program the technology-assisted crosswalk.
HAWK — that’s the nickname of the High Intensity Activated Crosswalk — is a unique and some might say intimidating two-phase, signal-regulated crossing area at Pine Street that requires pedestrians to take temporary refuge in a bollard-protected median, literally called a refuge zone. Cross the first
43 feet of the street, hunker down briefly, cross the second 43 feet. The narrow, 25-foot-long waiting area in the middle can accommodate a dozen pedestrians or so.
By most any analysis, 24th Street is now an attractive 1.5-mile stretch of road, as roads go: a broad, clean thoroughfare bounded by Flemish-style brick sound walls, mostly on the north side of 24th, with trees, shrubs and shredded redwood beds in the median and on the shoulders.
But it’s the engineering that matters most: The S-curve at B Street that splits eastbound 24th Street into 23rd has been flattened, improving visibility.
And the flooding that has been known to inundate the area after heavy rains should be a thing of the past. That’s a particular point of pride for Ravi Pudipeddi, the city’s lead engineer on the project, because he’s, well, an engineer.
“We’ve added the storm drain, which not very many people see, but that’s a valuable resource created by this project as well,” he said. “Last year’s storm did not create flooding on 23rd Street because we had the system installed and functioning. Early this year, we started installing the storm drain on 24th Street. And now that that is complete, the water will be conveyed up 24th to the basin (at Oak). We’re not going to have any more flooding on 24th Street or 23rd.”
The 24th Street widening project is one of the first completed, highly visible surface-street undertakings to dip significantly into the pot of money funded initially by former Rep. Bill Thomas, who slipped $680 million for his district into a 2005 federal funding bill near the end of his 28-year run in the House of Representatives. The transportation agency created to administer those and other funds — the Thomas Roads Improvement Program,
or TRIP — paid for the 24th Street project with help from local funds.
The project had its naysayers — and
still does. Citizens Against the 24th Street Widening Project, a group of downtown and Westchester residents, said they were unhappy that the city was further dividing two historic neighborhoods, Westchester to the north and the older Jastro Park section of downtown to the south. Among their concerns: the removal of 20 homes on the Westchester side of 24th to make room for the widening.
Led by area resident Vanessa Vangel, the group sued the city and Caltrans in 2014, claiming the entities violated the California Environmental Quality Act and pushed the project through in an improper, piecemeal fashion.
Among the group’s allies was then-City Councilman Terry Maxwell, also a resident of the area and the only dissenting voice on most council votes related to 24th Street.
The plaintiffs won an injunction in 2016 when a Kern County judge cited two deficiencies in the city’s environmental impact report, halting the project, but the city made required adjustments and ultimately prevailed. Adding insult to injury, the project’s opponents received a legal bill from the city but successfully fought it.
And now the end is upon us. Pudipeddi says bridgework over the Kern River will be finished next week. The last of the low-profile shrubs will be planted no later than Oct. 23. Landscapers will need to close a lane for safety’s sake while they apply that finishing touch. But that’s it.
“It’s going to be a smooth flow,” Pudipeddi said.
That’s good, because it’s been a bumpy ride getting to this point. A smooth flow going forward sure would be nice.
Now, if we can just rid our streets of those other, something-thousand traffic cones.