California changes its mind on Highway 41 widening, 'saving lives,' Fresno advocates say
State transportation officials changed course this week and agreed to offer a letter of support to widening Highway 41 south of Fresno, area leaders said Friday.
Assemblymember Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, led a group sounding the alarm earlier this week, saying it appeared the long-planned widening of 41 from Elkhorn to Excelsior avenues was in jeopardy of not being funded.
The roughly $65 million widening is a way to save lives on a deadly six-mile stretch southeast of Caruthers, according to Patterson.
The California State Transportation Authority had declined to submit a letter of support, which is not necessary to make the project go but was seen as a sign that the key connector between Fresno and the Hanford-Lemoore area would be left at two lanes.
But the state officials changed their minds this week, according to Patterson.
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