January 25, 2023: At Miss Winkles Pet Adoption Center in Clovis Wednesday night, a few members of City staff were present alongside MIG, an architecture company, to present to members of the Clovis community three separate examples of a new bridge that the City plans to build over a certain location of the 168 freeway.
This location, at the Enterprise Canal Trail, would connect Clovis trail improvements and work south, giving access to both the north and south sides of the 168.
This would not only connect the trails in this area, but would provide more retail opportunities and greatly improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety.
Renee Mathis, Planning and Development Services Director stated “We want them [the trails] to have maximum benefit for the community,” and said that there were very few instances in which there was a break in continuity of the trail system in Clovis, with the 168 freeway being one of those exceptions.
The Enterprise Canal Trail that runs along Owens Mountain Parkway and Temperance streets stops at Owens Mountain Parkway according to Mathis, but with a bridge over the 168, would be able to continue further south and open the mentioned easy access north and south of the 168.
MIG Architecture gave a presentation that exemplified the three different bridges that they believe can be built over the 168 freeway. They, as well as City of Clovis staff, made it known that they understand this bridge will last for a long time for Clovis residents.
The three possible options of bridges across the 168 would be either a Box-Girder Span, Tied-Arch Span, or Cable-Stayed Span with examples of each that can be explored by looking at the link at https://cityofclovis.com/planning-and-development/engineering/projects/.
The Box-Girder Span, explained to be the most widely used of the three across the state, was estimated to have cost the least amount, coming in at around $10-15 million.
This type also was said to have possibly the most potential in terms of being an “open canvas” in which different types of artwork could be completed on it.
The Tied-Arch Span, which gets its name from the arches that hold cables assisting the bridges’ sustainability, was estimated to cost around $15-20 million and received the least amount of votes from the focus-group like poll.
Some members of the public did believe however that the arches themselves would help frame the Sierra Mountains when headed east on the 168 freeway.
Finally, the Cable-Stayed Span, equipped much alike the Tied-Arch Span, with cables connecting to only one or two large arcs in the middle of the bridge came in at around an estimate of $20-25 million, yet received the highest number of votes when asked of its aesthetic pleasing view to the public.
It is said that the City of Clovis has high expectations for the proposed bridge, and “envisions it as a distinctive architectural feature echoing the progressive modernist styles of its surrounding context.”
This gathering, with less than twenty members of the Clovis public, was just a beginning round of further focus group like meetings that the City of Clovis plans to host in the future.
With bridge construction planned for 2026-2027, they intend to plan for another meeting this year, coming in around April. A final recommendation will be made before 2025 when the plan then is to submit a final bridge design.
More information can be found at https://cityofclovis.com/planning-and-development/engineering/projects/