High-Speed Rail Update: Another Piece Completed

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The California High-Speed Rail Authority this week celebrated the completion of another piece of the project that will one day extend from the Bay Area to Los Angeles: the McCombs Road overcrossing in Kern County. That’s the fifth major infrastructure piece completed this year alone. This project realigned McCombs Road slightly to take traffic over both the future high-speed rail lines and State Route 43, which parallels the rail route at this spot. Other projects completed in 2023 include an overcrossing at Elkhorn Avenue in Fresno County, grade separations at Idaho and Dover avenues in Kings County, and the Cedar Viaduct in Fresno County. CASHRA’s goal is to complete the first leg of construction between Tulare and Kern counties this fall, according to Garth Fernandez, the Authority’s Central Valley Regional Director. “The completion of McCombs Road shows we are one step closer to wrapping [it up],” he said.

Currently there are more than thirty active construction sites on the HSR project in the Central Valley, including bridges, viaducts, and undercrossings in preparation for the rail line. Close to that number of jobs have been completed. Almost all the parcels for Central Valley construction have been acquired, and environmental clearance has been completed for 422 miles of the project. More about each projects’ current status can be found here. CASHRA also wants to remind people that the project has created over 11,000 “good-paying labor jobs,” and that over 770 small businesses are working on some aspect of it. Activity related to the project is generating billions in economic benefits, much of that for the Central Valley, and much of it in disadvantaged communities.

The Elkhorn overcrossing in Fresno County, completed in June. Photo: CAHSRA

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