Westside Parkway & Centennial Corridor (CA 58 realignment, Bakersfield)

Started by bing101, January 07, 2014, 10:51:19 AM

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Max Rockatansky

The amusing thing is that the Bakersfield city limit does already hit I-5 along the Kern River.  The actual growth will still likely take decades to get that far.  Interestingly there is a lot of unused farm plots and retention ponds between CA 58 and the Kern River.  I'm thinking that the development is going to end up lining the river and not stray much north of 58.


Voyager

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 16, 2024, 09:01:21 PMThe amusing thing is that the Bakersfield city limit does already hit I-5 along the Kern River.  The actual growth will still likely take decades to get that far.  Interestingly there is a lot of unused farm plots and retention ponds between CA 58 and the Kern River.  I'm thinking that the development is going to end up lining the river and not stray much north of 58.

There's a massive zone of new development I noticed around the little sag ponds that have developed around the river - guessing they're going after the Elk Grove in Sacramento kinda little lake developments, but those go towards I-5 so hopefully that'll spur the freeway development (not that its even necessary at the moment, I just want 58 to get its freeway).
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mgk920

Quote from: kkt on December 16, 2024, 08:53:34 PMI hope they did.  Much easier to get the right of way when it's fields instead of waiting for it to be sprawl.


How difficult was it for Caltrans to acquire the ROW for the part running westward from CA 99?

Mike

Voyager

Quote from: mgk920 on December 17, 2024, 04:05:50 PM
Quote from: kkt on December 16, 2024, 08:53:34 PMI hope they did.  Much easier to get the right of way when it's fields instead of waiting for it to be sprawl.


How difficult was it for Caltrans to acquire the ROW for the part running westward from CA 99?

Mike

My (vague) understanding is that Caltrans never had an intention of actually expanding the freeway until the city of Bakersfield built their own Westside Parkway which was orphaned from the rest of the system and ended at Truxtun Rd. Once that was complete, I guess it gave Caltrans the incentive to take it over and connect it to 58 finally, but I do know all those houses in the path of the new freeway were difficult to acquire from some news stories I saw over the last decade related to the project.
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mrsman

Is there any reason why the yet-unbuilt CA-58 freeway is designed to take a corridor that is half a mile south of Stockdale Highway, as opposed to simply widening Stockdale Highway?  It seems like at least one side of the road is farmland all the way from where the current Westside Parkway intersects with Stockdale, all the way to I-5.  It would seem to me that it would be cheaper to simply widen CA-58 in place, for at least most of this distance, as a freeway.


Voyager

Quote from: mrsman on December 18, 2024, 06:42:02 PMIs there any reason why the yet-unbuilt CA-58 freeway is designed to take a corridor that is half a mile south of Stockdale Highway, as opposed to simply widening Stockdale Highway?  It seems like at least one side of the road is farmland all the way from where the current Westside Parkway intersects with Stockdale, all the way to I-5.  It would seem to me that it would be cheaper to simply widen CA-58 in place, for at least most of this distance, as a freeway.



There's a large convenience "center" right next to the I-5 interchange that would probably cause a lot of logistical routing issues, and then you'd have to deal with the CA-43 interchange and a lot of driveways between 43 and the current freeway end. If you look at my screenshot, there's a lot less in the way to deal with by building next to the California Aqueduct instead.
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cahwyguy

Additionally, there are likely a bunch of buried utilities next to the existing road that would need to be moved.
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pderocco

Quote from: Voyager on December 18, 2024, 06:46:08 PM
Quote from: mrsman on December 18, 2024, 06:42:02 PMIs there any reason why the yet-unbuilt CA-58 freeway is designed to take a corridor that is half a mile south of Stockdale Highway, as opposed to simply widening Stockdale Highway?  It seems like at least one side of the road is farmland all the way from where the current Westside Parkway intersects with Stockdale, all the way to I-5.  It would seem to me that it would be cheaper to simply widen CA-58 in place, for at least most of this distance, as a freeway.

There's a large convenience "center" right next to the I-5 interchange that would probably cause a lot of logistical routing issues, and then you'd have to deal with the CA-43 interchange and a lot of driveways between 43 and the current freeway end. If you look at my screenshot, there's a lot less in the way to deal with by building next to the California Aqueduct instead.

I agree, except that that's the Cross Valley Canal, which dumps into the California Aqueduct further west.

jdbx

Quote from: cahwyguy on December 18, 2024, 08:50:30 PMAdditionally, there are likely a bunch of buried utilities next to the existing road that would need to be moved.

You made an extremely valid point that I think far too few people appreciate.  The coordination (and delays) involved in utility relocation can add a significant expense to any project, to the point where some won't even pencil out as "worthwhile" without finding a new terrain alternative. Any time you can take an agency or stakeholder out of the picture, the time and cost savings add up.  About the only thing I have seen as a physical factor that is more confounding to the timely completion of a project is dealing with a railroad.



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