Road closure through new Clovis growth area extended to six months. Why so long? | Opinion

Marek Warszawski
·4 min read

Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email tips@fresnobee.com.

It reportedly took six months for Chinese engineers and construction workers to build a 21-mile metro line connecting central Istanbul and the Turkish city’s international airport.

Meanwhile in Clovis, the same amount of time is required to widen a half-mile stretch of road and perform underground utilities work.

What gives?

Home construction on the northern outskirts of Clovis, where $550,000 buys you a three-bedroom house on a tiny lot, is booming. But while the city grows, residents old and new are frequently asked to bear the brunt of development when major streets are closed for months at a time.

Opinion

Shepherd Avenue, which until recently served as Clovis’ northern border, has been closed since late December between Clovis and Fowler avenues for road widening and infrastructure improvements related to a new housing tract in the city’s Heritage Grove growth area.

Shepherd was scheduled to reopen this week. However, a city spokesperson now says that won’t happen until the end of June due to “factors beyond the developer’s control including third-party delays that have unfortunately slowed this project.”

The developer is Lennar, which is in the process of constructing 568 single-family homes on 168 acres north of Shepherd between Clovis and Sunnyside avenues on what used to be an almond orchard. (Phase one of the project, featuring $1 million tract homes, was completed in 2022.)

The third-party blamed for the delays? Everybody’s favorite whipping boy, PG&E.

On Tuesday — the day Shepherd was scheduled to reopen with four lanes of traffic, an off-street bike path and a new stoplight at the Sunnyside intersection — the construction area remained a muddy mess. During a midafternoon visit, no one was seen working. During a visit the previous week, the only two workers on site told me they were installing fiber optic cable.

With Shepherd closed between Clovis and Fowler, drivers are forced to detour one mile south on Nees Avenue that takes them on a narrow two-lane road through the unincorporated Dry Creek Preserve, causing lengthy backups at traffic signals and stop signs during the commute hours.

This is the third time in four years the city has closed a major street to accommodate development. In 2021, Shepherd was shut down for more than three months between Clovis and Minnewawa avenues for improvements related to phase one of the Lennar project. In 2023, Nees Avenue was closed for nearly five months between Clovis and Minnewawa for improvements related to The Well Community Church.

A muddy construction area is shown in this drone image at the intersection of Sunnyside and Shepherd near the Dry Creek trailhead in Clovis on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The roads in that area have been closed since Jan. 1 for road widening and underground utilities work related to housing construction in the Heritage Grove growth area. Now city officials say it won’t reopen until the end of June.

PG&E catches blame

Why do street improvements take so long? And what are city officials doing to prevent developers, utility companies and contractors from dragging out closures?

Rainy weather absorbed some of the blame for last year’s Nees closure. This year, the culprit is PG&E.

According to city engineer Thad Avery, regular meetings are held between city staff and PG&E to discuss project schedules and offer assistance to the utility company on issues that could result in delays. But in this case they found out when it was too late to do anything.

“The developer’s communication of delays by PG&E pushing their schedule out happened late in the process,” Avery said via email.

“When the city heard about the delays, we tried to help push the project along but the delays were already (occurring). PG&E is currently working on the project, so PG&E is moving forward now.”

When Shepherd does reopen through Clovis’ newest growth area, be it in late June or whenever, that won’t be the end of things.

The difficult stretch, in fact, hasn’t even started.

The current project covers Shepherd between Clovis and Sunnyside while adding turn lanes to Sunnyside at the intersection. However, it does nothing to address the two-lane segment between Sunnyside and Fowler, which will also be realigned to remove an existing curve.

In addition to the road widening, the city plans to construct bike paths along both sides of Shepherd along with a bridge to connect the southern path to the Enterprise Trail.

Improvements to Shepherd between Sunnyside and Fowler won’t take place until development occurs along the north side of the roadway. According to city spokesperson Taylor Danielson, no project has been approved and the land must also be annexed.

This means that even after Shepherd reopens through north Clovis it probably won’t be long until there’s another extended closure. And judging by the work that needs to be done on that stretch, the future closure will probably be just as lengthy as the current one – if not longer.

Where are those Chinese engineers and construction workers when we need them? I’m being facetious, but still.

The intersection at Sunnyside and Shepherd near the Dry Creek trailhead in Clovis is currently closed as well about a mile of roadway leading to it. The roads have been closed since Jan. 1 for road widening and underground utilities work related to housing construction in the Heritage Grove growth area. Now city officials say it won’t reopen until the end of June.
Wilson Homes are advertised on a billboard at the intersection of Sunnyside and Shepherd near the Dry Creek trailhead in Clovis on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The roads in that area have been closed since Jan. 1 for road widening and underground utilities work related to housing construction in the Heritage Grove growth area. Now city officials say it won’t reopen until the end of June.