CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A stoplight being installed on Highway 53 and Olympic Drive is on track to be ready for activation next spring.
Due to a high collision rate at the intersection, one of the entry points into the city of Clearlake, in early 2010 Caltrans announced its plans to install a stoplight there.
The new traffic signal is part of a larger rehabilitation project along Highway 53 that resumed early in August after being on hold for eight months due to the original contractor defaulting, as Lake County News has reported.
Caltrans said the project was awarded to a new contractor, Teichert Construction of Davis, before work resumed last month. The total project is set to be completed next fall.
Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie told Lake County News that Caltrans had intended to ask the new contractor to begin with a focus on completing the widening near Olympic Drive so the new traffic signal could be activated. However, he said the new contract with Teichert took longer to approve than anticipated.
“With the late start of work this summer, we realized we must let the contractor focus on earthwork before we are shut down for the winter,” he told Lake County News in an email. “Before we committed to this decision we checked with our Traffic Safety Office to confirm that the current all-way stop at Olympic Drive is working with very few incidents.”
Frisbie said that Caltrans plans to direct Teichert to begin paving near Olympic Drive next spring so that the traffic signal can be activated in May.
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