Current view of Sierra Way 12/10/2024. Photos by Patrick Ray
According to a post from Kern County Supervisor Phillip Peters, in a Sierra Way update he gave on Facebook, Friday December 6, a few unexpected issues came up, which the county had to deal with on the Sierra Way project.
However Peters still expected the opening of Sierra Way to be Friday December 13. He also dispelled false information about the possibility of a ribbon cutting. The opening will not include any ribbon cutting according to Peters.
The issues that needed work at Sierra Way were related to installing guardrails at the construction site. Peters claimed these would be minor fixes and would not take more than a week. He said, “We do not want anything to interfere with opening it as soon as is safely possible. Thank you.”
The thoroughfare from Weldon area into Kernville had been closed for months in relation to storm damages, causing many locals in Kernville concern about the inability to safely leave during evacuation events.
Residents from Weldon paid more money for gasoline and had to travel many more miles, to dump their trash, as a result of the Sierra Way closure.
This topic packed the Kernville Chamber of Commerce meeting hall, with irate locals expressing anger toward the County, when public works engineers and the supervisor came up to talk about why the repair project took longer than expected.
Part of the issue was an unworkable FEMA design and the need for the county to find funding for a better design. Ultimately the project continued.
