Fowler Avenue Road Reconstruction and Shoulder Improvements

Fowler Avenue between Elkhorn Avenue (High Speed Rail crossing) 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.  

During the dry summer months, traffic-induced turbulence leads to significant dust that becomes airborne. During the rainy winter months, the shoulders become unstable, which presents safety hazards such as pavement drop-off and/or flooding. Additionally, the edges of the pavement are cracking and causing a safety hazard for drivers.   

This segment of Fowler Avenue has experienced 32 crashes from January 2011 to December 2021, 2 of which were fatal.

The project consists of reconstruction  and shoulder improvements on 4.2 miles of Fowler Avenue from Elkhorn Avenue to the Fresno County Line. The project will rehabilitate 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 and shoulders 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. 

The expected benefits of the project are to preserve the integrity of the roadway, improve driver safety and road performance, improve pedestrian connectivity, and reduce airborne particulate matter by paving the shoulders, thereby reducing the amount of dust in the air caused by passing traffic. Once complete, the project will improve both air quality and safety for traffic through this corridor to the community of Laton.

The project was awarded $5,867,143 in STBG funding for the reconstruction portion of the project, and $3,433,521 in CMAQ funding for the shoulder improvements.  

Currently, this project in the preliminary engineering phase.  Construction is expected to take place in 2027-28.