1 killed, 2 injured in collision at Cholame ‘Y’ interchange on Highway 46
A man died Tuesday night after a collision at the Cholame “Y” on Highway 46, where Caltrans is building a flyover interchange to prevent just such a crash.
On Tuesday at about 7:14 p.m., Hanford resident Kayleigh Pearson, 37, was driving eastbound on Highway 46 in a Ford Explorer approaching Highway 41, the California Highway Patrol said in a news release.
Pearson had one passenger in her vehicle, 41-year-old Emma Pearson.
Meanwhile, Gilroy resident Jesse Moore, 31, was driving a Toyota Rav4 westbound on Highway 46 approaching the interchange from the other direction, according to the release.
For an unknown reason, Pearson turned her Ford SUV “directly into the path of the Toyota,” CHP said.
According to the CHP, the speed of the Toyota and Ford at the time of the crash is unknown.
Moore was transported by air to Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton, where died of his injuries, the agency said.
The Pearsons both sustained minor injuries in the crash. Neither were arrested, and alcohol impairment is not suspected as the cause of the collision, CHP said.
The collision is still under investigation.
Deadly Cholame ‘Y’ to get safety upgrades
The Cholame Y interchange has been the location of deadly collisions for decades, the most notable of which was actor James Dean’s fatal head-on crash on Sept. 30, 1955.
In May, Caltrans began construction on a long-awaited flyover at the interchange.
The elevated interchange will carry drivers over Highway 46 and merge them onto Highway 41, headed toward Fresno, preventing the kind of turning across oncoming traffic that happens now.
A second project to improve the corridor will widen another 3.5 miles of Highway 46 East on the way to Kern County.
