California 126 Widening May Be Done by Year-End

Construction to widen California 126 to four lanes east of Fillmore could be finished by December, a half year earlier than scheduled, Caltrans told local officials this week.

But while the work to widen 4.7 miles of the notoriously dangerous road--from the outskirts of Fillmore to Powell Road--is six to eight months ahead of schedule, the contractor’s project manager said Friday that his company isn’t making any promises.

“We’ve never made any commitment to them when we’d be done,” said Joe Ferndino of Security Paving of Sun Valley, adding that the company’s contract calls for it to complete the widening work by summer 1998.

“At the rate we’re going right now, we’d be done by [December], but if the opportunity arises we’re going to pull some people out and do other work,” he said.

Ferndino said if the company is successful in bidding on other construction projects, it normally reassigns employees to meet the increased workload.

In fact, the company has already decreased its 30- to 40-employee work force to about 25 people, he said. So far, the road-widening project is between 50% and 60% finished, according to Ferndino.

The entire project, including landscaping, is still officially slated for completion by December 1998.

Still, Fillmore Mayor Roger Campbell, who has been pushing for the construction to be completed earlier in an effort to cut the death toll on the deadly highway, said he was pleased to hear the job may be finished in December.

“That was exactly what I asked for,” he said. “What it means in terms of lives is it’s going to save a bunch of them.”