Groundbreaking conducted Friday afternoon for a Caltrans project to widen Highway 46 East between Shandon and Cholame. The highway will be widened from the Shandon rest area to just east of the Jack Ranch Café in Cholame.
The cost is about $115 million. When it’s completed, that stretch of 46 east will be a four lane expressway. It will be completed by 2024.
At Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor John Peschong complimented Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham for finding the funds for this project. Peschong said, “It’s a big deal. It will make it easier for us to get in and out of our county. Assemblyman Cunningham has been fighting for us for a long time. It’s not easy for our county to get resources to build something like this. He won’t be our assemblyman for much longer, but I think he’s done a wonderful job for our county.”
The Caltrans Senior Engineer on the project is Amy Norris. She has been working full-time in design at Caltrans for over twenty years. She said, “This is a really unique project. We don’t often get to do this size earthwork job anymore. Being able to widen something like this, and do 1.5 million cubic yards of dirt work, it’s pretty exciting.”
The ground breaking was held behind the Jack Ranch Café in Cholame where work is already underway to build a new 4-lane expressway that is behind the café. It will connect 46-East with the 46/41 interchange. After this project is completed in 2024, work will begin to improve the interchange.
