Centennial Corridor finally cuts a ribbon — but freeway’s green light is still a few days away
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Perhaps never before has so short a distance generated as much excitement as the stretch of freeway joining the east and west halves of State Route 58. The Centennial Corridor ribbon-cutting took place Friday morning, and the mood was festive.
The long-awaited Centennial Corridor opens soon — just not as soon as some may have assumed. We won’t be able to actually drive on the new section of freeway for several more days, but we can celebrate the fact we’ve come this far.
Depending on where we start counting, the new mile-and-a-half section of freeway — State Route 58 to be precise — has been 19 years in the making.
You can cycle the Centennial Corridor before it opens to the public
Through funding gaps and bureaucratic hurdles, its champions persisted, remaining focused until the last lane was striped.
The city of Bakersfield, the county of Kern, Caltrans, the California Transportation Commission, the Kern Council of Governments and the ad hoc agency they combined to create — the Thomas Roads Improvement Program, or TRIP — overcame it all.
Friday was their day to take a bow before the assembled multitude of about 600 — perhaps twice what organizers expected. The biggest ovation was for former Congressman Bill Thomas, whose $720 million appropriation in 2005 included $630 million to get the ball rolling on Bakersfield roads projects, including $609 million for the Centennial Corridor. TRIP added other funding sources for other projects and the undertaking exceeded $1 billion.
All the participating agencies and governments were on hand for speech-making, including former Bakersfield City manager Alan Tandy, who was on the job when the plans were made.
Thomas, who left Congress at the end of 2007, said he seized the rare opportunity to score one for the district.
“It was a moment in time where I knew if I didn’t do what I did,” Thomas said, “we would never get anything.”
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Arhon Hakimi, executive director of Kern COG, summed up the collective effort with one word.
“Perseverance,” he said, “from many people including Bill Thomas. He literally still comes to every meeting. When we get sideways with each other and other agencies, he’s the referee, the enforcer. He plays many different roles. But we got it done.”
The freeway will not actually open to vehicle traffic for several days — a date hasn’t been set — but that didn’t stop the marching band or curious citizens who’ve been enduring orange traffic cones and road closures over years of construction.
Sam Mercado, one such onlooker, said the Centennial Corridor has just a couple shortcomings.
“It’s not perfect,” he said. “I don’t like the fact that they left Stockdale High out — there’s no exit. You know, maybe in the future they’ll address that too. So, who knows. But for the time being I think it’s terrific.”
The project, Bill Thomas said, is done — but not done.
“We were able to put together a coalition of people who had worked together, trusted each other,” he said, “and I told them I would make sure that it’s first, interstate, then it will be intrastate, and then regional and finally local. This is the interstate aspect. That’s done.”
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“Now we’ll move on to other things that people talk about not having been done. We’ve got a few more years. We’ll get there,” Thomas said.
When the Centennial Corridor opens in a few days, you might notice a view of the city you haven’t seen before — a panorama from a different elevated perspective.
Just keep your eyes on the road.
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