Chestnut Avenue, the road that has gone nowhere near campus since 2006, may soon be at the end of its long and winding path of improvement.

The project — turning Chestnut Avenue from a two-lane to a four-lane road — will be completed by July, university officials say. Sections of Chestnut Avenue from Barstow Avenue to Bullard Avenue and from Shaw Avenue to Barstow Avenue may be temporarily opened as early as April, according to Deborah Adishian-Astone, executive director of the California State University, Fresno Association, which is overseeing the roadwork.

Both city and state officials said the roadwork shouldn̢۪t have taken this long.

“The project has taken much longer than it should have,â€Â said Scott Mozier, assistant director of public works for the City of Fresno. “Fresno State was allowed to close the road and begin construction in [July] 2006 to meet [state] grant deadlines.â€Â

The city has been inspecting the work, reviewing plans and issuing permits for the project.

The roadwork was originally planned as part of the Save Mart Center project, to ease the traffic that the arena would cause, according to Moses Stites, associate transportation planner for Caltrans. The agency is involved because of the road̢۪s impact on Highway 168 on and off-ramps.

CSU Trustees approved the Save Mart Center environmental impact report in 1999. Stites said it took four years for the university to get the money and design the roadwork.

The project cost about $6 million, according to Adishian-Astone. The state grant, from the Traffic Congestion Relief Program, covers $4.67 million and the Campus Pointe developers are paying for the rest.

The project̢۪s financing is why the city of Fresno let Fresno State take the lead in widening Chestnut, according to Mozier. The grant program, which was to have paid the city for the entire project, was suspended for a time.

“Fresno State was able to proceed using other funding with a promise of future repayment from state transportation funds,â€Â Mozier said.

In the fall of 2005, the project was formally handed over to the university with the approval of the California Transportation Commission, Mozier said.

Amy Armstrong, spokesperson for the University Police Department, said that drivers have contacted the department about the roadwork.

“A lot of community members used to cut through campus to get to [Highway] 168,â€Â she said. “I’ve talked to several of the people who were upset by the construction.â€Â

Armstrong said that she has received about 50 calls about the roadwork in the 20 months that the road has been closed. She said that some of the more frustrated drivers seem to be members of the off-campus community, probably because they don̢۪t receive the traffic alert e-mails that campus members do. Most people understand after she speaks with them.

“Once we explain what’s going on with the project and the progress of the project, they’re satisfied,â€Â Armstrong said. “We do have a hotline set up [for the Chestnut widening]. You can leave a message and someone will get back to you.â€Â

The traffic hotline number is 278-6040.

Stites said that he, too, has heard from drivers.

“A lot of people have written about it – even contacted me directly – but Chestnut Avenue is not of Caltrans’ jurisdiction,â€Â he said. “Caltrans is only involved with regard to 168, the interchange and the ramps there. That’s the scope of our input and review. It concerns us because it’s adjacent to the interchange and its proximity.â€Â

Adishian-Astone said there were a number of reasons for the delays: “Plan review and permit approval process with the city, unforeseen underground utilities, installation of new water main for the city of Fresno, weather and other scheduling issues in order to mitigate impacts on university activities.â€Â

The city of Fresno also has temperature requirements for when paving should be done, according to Adishian-Astone, so that weather was a factor even when it wasn̢۪t raining.

Stites said that firms hired to do some of the project̢۪s work might have caused delays as well.

“You get the engineering firms that do the design work. It has to meet certain standards of the local jurisdictions: the city of Fresno and/or Caltrans,â€Â Stites said. “Often times, there’s a lot of detail work that has to be redone or modified to meet the expectations of the jurisdictions.â€Â

Mozier also said infrastructure was a factor.

“It was certainly anticipated that the construction would be completed more quickly but we understand there were issues with the underground utilities and relocation of the PG&E poles that delayed the work,â€Â he said.

Some of the underground utilities that were affected were water, sewer and storm drainage, according to Adishian-Astone.

She said that Chestnut Avenue was closed in sections for the project: first, the Barstow Avenue to Bullard Avenue section in July 2006, then Matoian Way to Barstow Avenue in December 2006 and lastly, Matoian Way to Shaw Avenue in April 2007.

The road is also opened for special events at the Save Mart Center but can̢۪t be opened for daily use until the final paving and striping are done. Other parts of the project, such as roundabouts at Matoian Way and Barstow Avenue, are already finished.

Armstrong said that Fresno State̢۪s Farm Market was also affected by the project but that it remained open during construction.

“The patience of the campus community is appreciated during this construction period because the end result will be positive,â€Â she said.