Street Widening in the City of Hemet!

Work has started on widening Sanderson Avenue from Acacia Avenue south to the BNSF Railway tracks just south of Wentworth Drive in southwest Hemet.

The north-south route through the San Jacinto Valley is considered a regional corridor, and this is one of the last segments to be widened, according to city reports.

The Hemet City Council awarded a road paving contract in February to Lee & Stires of Montclair for $713,804. The project’s total estimate costs, including engineering, survey and legal costs, total $787,804, according to a report. More recently, the council approved right-of-way acquisition.

Workers last week finished relocating a fence on the west side of Sanderson, near a field where cattle and horses graze, to make way for the project. The widening project will eliminate a jog to the narrower roadway south of Acacia.

The work is paid for mostly by Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fees, a levy on new development in the region, and some from Measure A, a half-cent sales tax that pays for road work.

The work includes about 2,500 feet of new curbs, gutters, water-catch basins and piping.

The city has been working for almost a decade to complete improvements on Sanderson Avenue between Esplanade Avenue, at the city limits with San Jacinto, south to Domenigoni Parkway.

The city is acquiring right-of-way on Sanderson near Commonwealth Avenue for one remaining widening project, with an estimated budget of almost $74,000, also from transportation mitigation fees.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9075 or gwesson@pe.com