The city of Fresno will begin work in 2026 to transform southern Blackstone Avenue. Heading south from Dakota Avenue to Highway 180, City Hall will shrink the vehicle lanes to make room for wider sidewalks and protected bike lanes.

Eventually, the city wants to also slow the street down to 30 miles per hour. The plan is called the South Blackstone Smart Mobility Strategy.

The city council approved the plan in 2019 after determining that traffic on that part of Blackstone Avenue didn’t warrant three lanes on each side, said Public Works Director Scott Mozier.

“Blackstone would function just fine with two lanes in each direction rather than three,” Mozier said. “The purpose of the plan was to look at how to repurpose that space such that Blackstone, which has quite a number of narrow sidewalks, could have wider sidewalks. It does not have bike lanes today, it could add bike lanes.”

Fresno City Councilmember Nelson Esparza did not return a request for comment by GV Wire. In a previous interview, however, he said the plan plays into the city’s bigger strategy for the city’s spine.

He said a lot of work went into the plan.

“We’ve been chipping away and building more and more toward this larger vision for Blackstone where we have mixed-use development and we have more walkable, bikeable, public-transit-friendly type corridor,” Esparza said.

GV Wire spoke with about a half-dozen business owners and store managers in the stretch of Blackstone affected by the plan. Most did not know what was coming, but called it a “bad idea” when it was described. They felt it would bottleneck traffic.

Chris Pilegard, owner of Jensen & Pilegard at 2510 N. Blackstone Ave., remembered the city sending out notices a few years ago. However, he thought the city had abandoned the plan. He felt bikers wouldn’t much want to use Blackstone.

“A lot of these ideas are idealistic but not realistic,” Pilegard told GV Wire.

Blackstone Changes Will Resemble Those to Palm Avenue

The plan divides Blackstone into three areas — from Highway 180 to McKinley Avenue, from McKinley Avenue to Shields Avenue, and from Shields Avenue to Dakota Avenue.

Long stretches of the street don’t have sidewalks and no part of the street has a protected bike lane.

Much like Palm Avenue between Dakota and Clinton avenues, eliminating a lane allows the city to create protected bike lanes and widen sidewalks — or create them where they aren’t any.

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Mozier said they do get cyclists on Palm but not as many as they hoped for.

“We are seeing some, perhaps not as many as would be hoped for…” Mozier said. “We’ve also gotten positive feedback on Palm from people saying, ‘Well, I’m not a cyclist, but I feel that the corridor is more walkable than it was.”

Janet Lucido, vice president of the Fresno Cycling Club, said she doubted whether riders would use Blackstone Avenue given its traffic.

“It’s such a well-traveled street, I don’t know how many people would actually ride it,” Lucido told GV Wire. She said most riders don’t fear the cars on the street but rather intersections and driveways, where most accidents happen, she said.

She said riders prefer using quieter, residential streets. She mentioned Fruit Avenue, which doesn’t have protected bike lanes.

First Phase of Construction Will Take Nine Months

Both sides of Blackstone Avenue would get a bike lane, according to the Smart Mobility Plan. The city would also add sidewalks, enhanced lighting, and eventually landscaping as the area gets developed under the city’s 2014 plan for the artery, Mozier said.

Buses would stop in the outer lanes to pick up passengers.

Bike lanes would be painted green and divided using flexible posts. Eventually, as developers build along Blackstone Avenue, concrete dividers with landscaping would replace the flexible posts. Developers would also add trees and irrigation.

Construction on the road will begin in 2026 on the portions from Highway 180 to Shields Avenue, Mozier said. Construction on the portion near Manchester Center would begin in 2027. Mozier said construction would take roughly nine months for each section.

After finishing construction, the city can then pursue slowing the speed limit to 30 mph after doing studies, Mozier said.

AJ Rassamni, president of the Blackstone Merchants Association, didn’t oppose the changes, but said wider sidewalks would only encourage more crime for businesses. The city needs the right “environment” first.

“Today, if we make it walkable, we’ll make it walkable for who? The drug dealers, the pimps, the gang members, because that’s who we have on Blackstone,” Rassamni said. “The first point is we need to clean Blackstone.”

Blackstone Usage Drops Significantly

Traffic studies show Blackstone Avenue as being “overbuilt,” Mozier said. The street is a main line for the city’s Rapid Bus Transit system.

Between McKinley and Shields avenues, about 21,000 vehicles a day use the thoroughfare, according to a May 2024 traffic study, Mozier said.

Compare that to Bullard Avenue west of First Street that gets 30,000 vehicles a day or Ashlan Avenue west of Highway 41 that gets 28,000 vehicles a day.

Nees Avenue west of Blackstone carries 23,000 cars a day.

Both Bullard and Nees bottleneck for freeway access, but Mozier didn’t anticipate bottlenecks on Blackstone.

Work to change Blackstone began with a $300,000 CalTrans grant to study the feasibility of the Blackstone road diet. The city also used held community meetings, according to the study.

“Dominant themes from the outreach activities were the need for pedestrian and bicycle improvements, trees and shade, lighting, comfortable public spaces and the reduction of the dominance of automobiles were recurrent themes throughout the engagement process,” the study stated.

State Will Mostly Pay for Changes

The project will cost about $15 million, mostly funded through state grants, Mozier said. From Highway 180 to McKinley Avenue, upgrading the street will cost about $8 million, $1.5 million for McKinley to Shields avenues, and $5 million for Shields to Dakota avenues. The city’s buy-in cost less than $1 million, Mozier said.

The nonprofit Fresno Metro Ministries drove the study, design, and implementation. In 2019, then CEO Keith Bergthold said the changes drive forward the 2014 General Plan under then-Mayor Ashley Swearengin to transform Blackstone Avenue.

“This is an area that really needs investment,” Bergthold said during the May 2, 2019, Fresno City Council meeting. “It really needs attention, and frankly this street is an opportunity to push that further, quicker than any other initiative could.”

(GV Wire senior reporter David Taub contributed to this article.)