Caltrans to repair 158 Highway 168 culverts, traffic delays expected

Drivers who rely on State Route 168 between Clovis and the Sierra foothills should prepare for months of slowdowns as Caltrans moves ahead with a major culvert rehabilitation project that stretches from the Fowler Avenue Overcrossing to just east of Warbler Lane in Shaver Lake. The work covers 158 culverts and related drainage structures along the 65.9-mile corridor, a route that carries Fresno-Clovis commuters during the workweek and recreation traffic headed for Shaver Lake, Huntington Lake and other Sierra Nevada destinations.

Caltrans says the culverts are perforated, heavily rusted and marked by damaged end treatments and joint separations. The agency says many have reached or exceeded their design life, making the repairs necessary to keep drainage functioning and extend the life of the highway’s drainage system. Construction is planned to begin in spring 2026 and wrap up in summer 2027, a timeline that means repeated disruptions could hit drivers for much of the next year and a half.

The project carries an estimated price tag of $10.913 million, including $9.661 million in federal funding and $1.252 million from the state. For Fresno County commuters, the timing matters: Highway 168 is one of the main east-west links between the Fresno-Clovis metro area and the mountains, so work on the corridor can ripple into school drop-offs, work commutes and weekend travel as far as the foothills. Caltrans has not yet detailed every closure or detour in the materials provided, but the scale of the project makes delays on the corridor likely once crews are in the field.

The culvert work comes as Caltrans is also pressing ahead with another Highway 168 fix near Shaver Lake. That project, the State Route 168 Shaver Lake Viaduct Project, began in April 2026 and calls for a two-lane viaduct on a new alignment near the shoreline to replace a section that has suffered repeated slope and pavement failures tied to groundwater and saturated soils. Taken together, the two projects show how much of Highway 168 has become a long-term maintenance problem for Caltrans, and how many more months Fresno County drivers may need to build into trips over the Sierra route.