Project Details
Client: State Center Community College District
Location: Fresno, California
Type: Roadway Improvements
Construction Cost: $2.2 million
Completion Date: 2005
Interesting Fact: The Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) tracks divide the 105-acre Fresno City College campus with a population of over 25,000 students. In any given school week, as many as 8,000 students crossed the tracks at Weldon Avenue. In the same week, those tracks accommodate nearly 150 trains, some of which travel in excess of 70-80 mph through the campus.
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The Weldon Avenue crossing at Fresno City College had become so notorious for accidents and pedestrian injuries that state officials had once used it as a backdrop of a rail safety ad campaign. In 2004, State Center Community College District (SCCCD) championed the effort for a safer crossing for the college, as well as the community.
Blair, Church & Flynn Consulting Engineers was enlisted to assist SCCCD with the study, funding & design of a solution to the dangerous crossing. The resulting structure is the largest non-building project on campus within the last 10 years. In less than 24 months, our firm led a collaborative, multi-agency effort that included SCCCD, Caltrans, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), the City of Fresno and half a dozen franchise utility companies in the creation of the Fresno City College Railway Underpass. The originality and innovativeness of Blair, Church & Flynn’s work is not just in each individual component of the Railway Underpass project, but also in the creative fashion the components were assembled to have an impact as an attractive campus element.
The new underpass gave the campus not only a functional and safer way for students to travel across campus, but also created a welcoming focal point to the college’s main corridor. The roadway improvements integrated beautification elements such as pavers, entrance sign, colorful landscaping and green space to give the site a softer, natural open feeling as opposed to concrete and asphalt confinement. The new entrance also embraced ADA requirements to their fullest making sure that all students of every physical ability could utilize the new pathways. It incorporated environmentally friendly “green design” elements like drought tolerant landscaping and recycled asphalt, as well as incorporated safety upgrades with better level lighting and improvements to police cameras and emergency phone systems. The underpass and new roadway improvements also maintained at 95% of existing parking.