The City of Fresno and the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority), today announced that construction is starting this week on the second phase of the Veterans Boulevard Project, known as the Veterans Boulevard Grade Separation. The City has awarded a $20 million contract to Granite Construction utilizing funding provided by the Authority’s project. Through collaboration, the City and the Authority are mitigating the closure of the existing Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) at-grade crossing at Carnegie Avenue by constructing a new overpass for Veterans Boulevard, connecting the neighborhoods east of the railroad corridor to Golden State Boulevard.
This phase continues the progress of the recently completed first phase, which extended Bullard Avenue to the Veterans Boulevard and Riverside Drive and is a key part of constructing High-Speed Rail in the City of Fresno.
The construction work will result in two lanes of Veterans Boulevard; a bridge structure over the existing UPRR and future High-Speed Rail tracks, and a roadway connection from Veterans Boulevard to future Golden State Boulevard. The overhead bridge structure will have two spans at a total length of 294.8 feet and a width of 132.7 feet. The structure is a cast-in-place pre-stressed concrete box girder, with all supports on six-column bents on large diameter cast-in-drilled-hole piles. Mechanically stabilized earth walls behind the abutments will support the roadway embankment fills.