Highway 46 East in San Luis Obispo County near the Cholame Y is known for deadly crashes. Just this last Monday, a fatal collision occurred there when a driver crossed into oncoming traffic.
Now, the highway is being expanded from two lanes to four between the Shandon Roadside Rest Area and the Jack Ranch Café in Cholame.
Caltrans District 5 Public Information Officer Kevin Drabinski said this expansion is really about prioritizing safety. He said making the transition to a four-lane divided highway is inherently less risky for motorists.
“We’ve experienced, for as long as Highway 46 has been around, accidents," Drabinski said. "Especially ones that cause the most amount of damage, which are head-on collisions.”
Drabinski said it’s the primary route between the Central Coast and the Central Valley. He said members of both communities have been asking for improvements for years.
He said other fixes have been made over the decades but this is the biggest one.
“[We've created] regularization of how lanes going in the same direction merge from two lanes to one [and] ridges on the edge of the centerline or the outside line to let you know when you’re out of your lane,” Drabinski said.
Drabinski said a majority of the project will take place on parallel construction next to the existing highway, so there will be minimal impacts or delays for drivers during the project.
“They’re able to skirt around the side of the existing roadway, build the realigned four-lane highway and then, after the construction is complete, traffic will move onto the newly constructed segment of that corridor,” Drabinski said.
The California Transportation Commission allocated $136 million for this project. Further north on Highway 1 in Santa Cruz County, another $2.7 million will fund the installation of rock slope protection around the foundation of the Soquel Creek Bridge on Highway 1.
Both projects are part of $589 million approved to repair and improve transportation infrastructure throughout the state.
The Highway 46 East expansion project is expected to break ground in the spring of this year and is scheduled to be complete in 2024.
