10-year effort to fix Lovers Lane-198 interchange underway

The overburdened Highway 198 interchange at Lovers Lane will finally be replaced, but the project to relieve the unending traffic jam there will take at least a decade to complete.

First Small Steps in a Big Undertaking

But the job has now officially started.

“We’re like right in the middle of the preliminary initial stages right now, with just getting going now on the public outreach for the project and everything,” said city engineer Chris Crawford.

Crawford and the city’s senior civil engineer and project manager, Rebecca Keenan, were on hand at the latest meeting of the Visalia City Council – held back on December 16 – to present the project publicly for the first time. They were joined by Mohammed Annan, who is managing the project for Caltrans.

The upgrade to Highway 198 is a joint project of the city, Caltrans and TCAG – aka the Tulare County Association of Governments. TCAG is footing the bill for creating the project initiation document (PID) that will guide the next decade of work.

“They warned me to make sure this is the best project, or at least one of the best projects, in Visalia,” Annan said.

“And quick too,” said Mayor Brett Taylor. “Did they tell you how quick we wanted it?”

This drew a chuckle from the audience, some of whom must have known the council was about to learn how slowly Caltrans advances.

Ramping Up Interchange Project to Take Six Months

“Yes, they did,” Annan said.

Then he let reality sink in. The deadline for completing the PID is still six months off.

“Maybe by June of 2025, we can finish the initiation phase,” Annan said. “And then we can start seeking programming and trying to identify some funding, maybe look for funding opportunities, and other things.”

Planning is the first of four phases, and it’s the only one so far that has funding. Programming, which is basically finding cash to pay for the other three phases of the project – environmental impact reporting, the project design, and finally construction – will take about another year. It should be complete by March 2026.

“Then we go into an environmental phase,” Annan said.

The environmental phase of the project will take three years to complete. Putting together the documents required and gaining approval for them will take from July 2026 to July 2029.

The Public Will Get a Say, Eventually

After all that dotting of I’s and crossing of T’s – four long years of preparation – the real design work can start.

“After the environmental clearances are completed, then we get the plans, specifications,” Annan said. “We basically design it and acquire the right-of-way that is necessary to implement the project.”

This is when the public will get more information about the scope of the project and a chance to give feedback.

“During that phase, we do a lot more outreach effort,” Annan said.

Completing the entire design process and gaining the necessary right-of-ways is expected to take yet another three years. Its target completion date is midyear in 2032. Another six months will be needed to find a construction company. The work should begin in January of 2032 and finish more than three and a half years later in October 2035.

“I know someone said to do it fast, but this is the proposed schedule at this point,” Annan said.

The official outreach, he said, starts this month with a public meeting to introduce the project. The city’s 148 Interchange website – www.visalia.city/depts/community_development/engineering/148_interchange.asp – asks for public feedback and promises news of future gatherings.

Miles-Long Project Centered on Road 148

One thing yet to be decided is the new name for Road 148. The small stretch of north-south pavement just south of East Noble Avenue – less than 1,000 feet of road serving a handful of homes – is listed as South Rio Linda Street on Google Maps. It and the homes along it won’t survive the construction.

The project starts about a quarter mile west of Lovers Lane on 198, and then ends at about a quarter mile east of Road 156. It will be centered on Road 148, where the widened Mineral King and Noble avenues will cut wide curves from their present route. They’ll meet at the north and south ends of the bridge that will eventually cross Highway 198.

Annan presented a handful of alternative designs for the new interchange, all of which feature protected bicycle lanes alongside various forms of on- and offramps. The project could include roundabouts, diverging diamond interchanges, or even standard looping on- and offramps.

“We have five alternatives that the design team has created in cooperation with environmental, of course, and our landscape unit, our architectural unit,” Annan said. “One of the alternatives, of course, will be no build. Do nothing.”

The remaining, more active alternatives are quite similar to each other. Capacity is the main difference among the options, with some having more modern approaches to managing traffic. And all the designs will integrate with the East Side Regional Park planned for north of Highway 198 Road 152 and the Greenway Trail that follows beside the Southern California Edison power lines.

The site of the park is currently used as a groundwater recharge basin, has parking and a paved walking path.

Planning Now for When the Money Comes

Other local Caltrans-led projects in the area have stalled in the past, leading council member Steve Nelsen to question whether the project would get beyond the earliest planning stage, or perhaps stretch longer than 10 years.

Specifically, he expressed concern that the state appears to be running short of funds for public projects at the moment.

“Do we run the risk of not getting funding on the other entities?” he asked. “Because you’re looking at a 10-year window, and with the deficit that the state is facing, there’s no guarantee you’re going to have funding.”

Annan agreed problems may arise. Yet he feels the project will be able to gain funding on a per-phase basis as it advances. And the city, TCAG and Caltrans must be poised to act.

“There is no guarantee. We do hope to get the funding,” he said. “The administration changes. The deficit changes. Within that 10 years, we hope to get surpluses, right? And that is when we have to be project-ready to jump on it.”

City engineer Crawford reminded the council the planning work is only getting underway, and the process of gathering opinions from elected officials and the public will enhance the prospect of finding the money.

“Right now, we’re kind of working out the outreach stuff we’re going to do. There’s going to be online stuff,” he said. “There’s going to be city staff and Caltrans working with some of the committees. We’re going to be taking a lot of input, so that way it sort of bolsters our ability to get grant funding.”

Funding Will be There, Says TCAG Official

TCAG executive director Ted Smalley was more definite in his assessment of whether the project would be funded. The money will be found, he said, even though it hasn’t yet.

“Technically what they’re saying is correct,” Smalley said. “The funding’s not identified per se.”

But when the time comes to start the environmental assessment, if the state isn’t able or willing to pay for it, then TCAG is.

“We will start that environmental (analysis phase),” he said. “So we will either have state money or we’ll use Measure R. The project is going to start on time.”

Further, Smalley said money to cover design costs and construction will be secured.

“I’ll just simply say we’re very good at this. Look at our track record for interchanges,” he said. “This is going to get built. It is going to get built when it’s ready to go. If you look at TCAG’s track record, we have never turned down a project when it came ready for construction. We’ll get it done.”

He advised the council not to miss this chance to fix one of the city’s worst traffic-flow problems. Money is not an issue that will stop construction.

“Let’s move full steam ahead, and put that burden on us for the delivery of money,” Smalley said. “You guys make sure you choose the interchange you want. We have a golden opportunity here.”