Crews complete Shirk Capacity Enhancement Project in Visalia

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- In the South Valley, millions of dollars have been put to work to improve your ride by car and by bike.

Streets in the City of Visalia may look different by the end of the year, as several projects are scheduled for completion.

The dozens of road improvement projects happening across the city of Visalia, include the Riggin Widening and Improvement Project one on Shirk Street in North Visalia and the Caldwell Improvement Project which runs from Santa Fe Street to Lovers Lane, which should all be complete within the next few months.

"One of the biggest complaints we are getting from the community is that they want us to fix the roads right, the fundamentals of running a city, so we put a tremendous amount of resources into getting those roads fixed," says Brett Taylor, who is the Mayor of Visalia.

Recent projects have been going on for months.

The dozens of road improvements have cost tens of millions of dollars.

The investments, the city says, have all been worth it.

"If you look at it, these roads are coming out beautifully. They have bike lanes, they are plenty wide," mentions Taylor.

The goal is to eventually connect the city's bike lanes, providing safer options for cyclists.

Projects have been made possible through grant funding, plus partnerships with local and state agencies.

"The Caldwell project was actually in partnership with the county, so TCAG was a major funder of that. The rest of them are coming from the city of Visalia's general fund," Taylor continues, "We also have another project going on on Lovers Lane and 198, that one is being done by the state of California, so Cal Trans is doing that project."

The City of Visalia says most of the ongoing projects are scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

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