FRESNO – It's a dangerous stretch of Central Valley highway, where motorists can suddenly find themselves enveloped in thick fog – but it's about to become safer.
The state Department of Transportation has announced details of its plan to build a fog-warning system on a 12-mile stretch of Highway 99 in southern Fresno County and northern Tulare County that could serve as a model for future warning systems throughout the San Joaquin Valley. The $12 million project is scheduled to be completed in four to six weeks.
The pilot project, announced Wednesday, is an improved version of a fog-warning system in the Stockton area that has helped reduce crashes, officials said. If the Fresno-Tulare system is successful, Caltrans may build similar systems elsewhere, said Malcolm Dougherty, director of the Caltrans district office in Fresno.
Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol said the project will use weather stations, vehicle motion detectors, visibility sensors and closed-circuit cameras to monitor weather and traffic patterns along the 12-mile stretch of highway. When the sensors detect slowing traffic or worsening fog conditions, the automated system will flash alerts on message signs.
The goal is to get motorists to slow before hitting an unexpected bank of fog. But, Dougherty noted, "this only works if the motoring public heeds the warning."
The Stockton-area system was built in 1996 and covers a section of southbound Interstate 5 and westbound Highway 120 near Lathrop and Manteca. Chantel Miller, a Caltrans spokeswoman in Stockton, said the system has helped reduce the annual number of crashes by 70 percent since the system began operating.
The San Joaquin Valley has a history of massive accidents during the foggy season, which usually begins in November. Last November, a fog-fueled pileup involving 92 vehicles injured dozens of people and killed two.
Morris Earl Taylor of San Antonio, who caused the first accident in that pileup, was sentenced Friday in Superior Court to a year in jail and three months of probation for driving under the influence of alcohol.
