Hanford Insider
Welcome the Hanford Insider, I’m your host Rob Bentley. I’m a lifelong resident of Hanford and I’m very involved in the local history scene and podcasting so I decided to start this show as a resource to Hanford area residents for covering issues, promoting events, sports, and reflecting on some local history.
Tune in each Monday for a new episode.
Please help me get the word out about the show by sharing on social media, or telling a friend. For more information about the show, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, or Threads at @Hanford Insider.
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Hanford Insider
Hanford Insider: CalTrans Plans, Community Events, And Hanford Sports Highlights
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Big projects are finally lining up for Kings County, and the details matter. We sit down with Caltrans District 6’s Alex Aguilera to unpack the planned 198–9th Avenue interchange, how five design alternatives could reconnect north and south Hanford, and why early community input will shape the safest, smartest option. We also trace the ripple effects tied to the East Lacey Corridor and the extension of 9th Avenue to Grangeville, showing how transportation design and city growth plans meet on the ground.
From there, we head up and down State Route 41. The Excelsior Expressway segment is on track for advertisement by year’s end with construction targeted for March 2026, promising continuous two lanes each way between Excelsior and Elkhorn and fewer risky merges. Southbound, Stratford’s proposed roundabout at Laurel Avenue tackles daily queues and shoulder passing with a safer, more predictable flow. Kettleman City’s multilane roundabout, anticipated to break ground in summer 2026, is built for semis and coast traffic, aiming to cut delays without sacrificing access to local fuel, food, and services.
This conversation isn’t just policy talk—it’s about daily life. We share a crisp community calendar with Thursday Night Marketplace, museum exhibits, and Fox Theater screenings, plus a full sports report: Hanford High’s statement football win, league pushes in volleyball, and strong water polo showings across local teams. Roads, events, and results all connect in one place: where you live, commute, and cheer.
Want a safer, smoother commute and a city that grows the right way? Lend your voice at public meetings, subscribe to our weekly calendar for the most comprehensive local listings, and send your team updates our way. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe, share with a neighbor, and leave a quick review—your support helps more locals find timely info that actually moves them.
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On this episode of the Hanford Insider, Alex Aguilera from Caltrans District 6 stops by to give us a few updates on big projects coming up on Kings County freeways. Rob will give you a rundown of the busy October calendar, then later, I'll be back with your sports report. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, october twentieth.
SPEAKER_01:I'm your host, Rob Bentley. Each episode, we highlight the stories, events, and people that make Hanford such a unique place to call home. From local history and culture to what's happening around town today, we're here to keep you connected and in the know. Now let's jump into some community news. There were so many great activities this weekend, and it was great to see so many people out enjoying the nice weather and having fun. To local marching band students and their families, October is known as Band Tober, with all of the football games and band reviews keeping them busy. And yesterday was no exception. In the Fowler Band review, the Pioneer Middle School Band plays second in Division IV, and the Liberty Middle School Band from Lamore plays third in Division I. At the Sierra Cup Classic at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, the Hanford High Band plays seventh in Division IIA, the Sierra Pacific Band plays seventh in five A, and the Lamore High Band plays sixth in the 5A Division. Hanford West had the weekend off, but will be traveling to Clovis this Saturday for their competition. The Hanford City Council will meet once again Tuesday, October 21st. In the afternoon SETI session, they'll welcome some new employees. They'll also review the Hanford Softball Complex usage and fee structures, and they'll review the results of the Civic Park Hardscaping Project Survey. In the general session at seven, there will be three public hearings. Two of them will be on annexations, and another one will be on a zone text amendment to expand the area in which banks and credit unions may operate in town to support business growth. The general business items include an updated agreement with legal council as well as a discussion of the future changes to council compensation. Don't forget, if you can't make it to the meeting, you can always watch proceedings online on the Hanford City website. Now let's take a look at this week's community calendar. At the Thursday night marketplace this week, it's Brew and Bites Night with music by the band August. The Carnegie Museum of Kings County's History of Agriculture in Kings County Part 2 is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. through December 14th. Tickets are still available for their Gala fundraiser at the Civic Auditorium this Saturday night. For more information, visit Carnegymuseum of Kingscounty.org. The City of Hanford will be hosting an open house for the community to give their input to the East Lacey Improvement Project on Wednesday, October 22nd at 6 p.m. in the City of Hanford Training Room. The movie It will be shown Saturday, October 25th at the Hanford Fox Theater at 7 p.m. The following day on Sunday, the theater will be hosting Silent Comedies with Dave Moreno and the mighty Willardster Pipe organ. Visit FoxHanford.com for details and tickets. I've put together a great list of pumpkin patches, fall festivals, trunk retreats, and all of your favorite fall events on my community calendar. I send it out each week to my subscribers. The calendar, without a doubt, is the most comprehensive community calendar available. There's no other calendar that can even come remotely close. Become a subscriber at HanfordInsider.com today. If you have an event coming up and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to HanfordInsider Gmail.com. Like I said, be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. It's the most comprehensive community calendar available. You know, travelers in Kings County are certainly used to road construction. We have a lot of high-speed rail construction, but it gives me a great pleasure to welcome to the show today Alex Aguilera with Caltrans District 6. He's the public information officer, and he's here to update us on some of the highway and freeway projects that we have going. How are you doing, Alex? Doing great. What about yourself? I'm doing great, Alex. Hey, um, first of all, I'd like to talk about this uh Highway 198 and 9th Avenue interchange that we're hearing a lot about. I noticed you had a community meeting about it and you're trying to get input from the community. So, what kind of interchange and uh what kind of things are we looking at for this?
SPEAKER_02:So for the 9th Avenue Interchange Project here along State Route 198, in the name of the project itself, the goal is to build an interchange at 9th Avenue. Um, with the current um layout of State Route 198, travel motorists who are traveling to get trying to get to the north side or the south side of 198 are having to travel to you know different whether it be State Route 43 or or 12th Avenue to get up to the north or southern southern side of the freeway. By bringing that interchange, we plan to connect the north side of Hanford and the South Side of Hanford. Um, right now, we currently have five different alternatives for the interchange um within our project specifications. Um, this meeting that we had, um, we were inviting the public to come out and give their input and any opinions on the different specifications that we presented them. That way we can take all of those comments and their concerns into consideration and whether make it be to make modifications to our project specifications or to just narrow down to which specific alternative would work best for the community and for for Caltrans. That way we can begin to go into our environmental phase and move forward with the project. As it is right now, we don't have any off or on ramps at 9th Avenue, and we do see lots of traffic in that area with the turnpocket that they have that we have headed um eastbound along 198. And the goal is by building this interchange, um, that traffic will not only be traveling safely, but also to continue mobility. That way, you know, for in the future, people don't have to go out of their ways, whether it be to State Route 43 or or 12th Avenue to get to the northern or southern end of Hamford.
SPEAKER_01:And I know that that 9th Avenue interchange is a big part of what the city of Hanford is looking at as far as expansion on the east side. We have the East Lacey Corridor project. 9th Avenue will actually go all the way through to Grangeville Boulevard, where Heroes Park's going to be. So we're going to see some tremendous development in that area as well. So, you know, when you look at these projects, we're looking years down the line of of what is needed for transportation to for people to be able to access. A lot of people think of that area now as what it is in 2025. But Caltrans and City of Hanford are looking way beyond that, right? So we're talking years down the line, but this has this stuff has to be done now, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's correct. When it comes to getting these projects put together, um, they start in the initial phases where we speak with um the city of Hanford in this case, and we go over these different alternatives because we want their input um as well as the public. So for this specific project, construction wouldn't begin until 2032. Um, but the reason why um we're trying to connect with the community and with the city of Hanford is so that um we have involvement from from from everyone. Um we want to make sure that everyone is involved and has said their opinion. That way we can take all that into consideration and begin the environmental phases of this project.
SPEAKER_01:So our children and grandchildren can look back on 2025 is the year that this uh the wheels got started on this. I know that uh I always share with people, it's kind of funny on my history page, we talk about things we remember about Hanford. And one of the first posts on my uh Facebook page was about the four-way stop at uh 198 and 12th Avenue, if you can believe that. That's insane. So lots to look forward to there at 198 and 9th Avenue. Uh, let's move on to a couple of other projects and uh hitting the road, as it were. Uh let's go northbound on 41. A lot of people use 41 or 43 to get to uh Fresno, but uh 41 is increasingly popular, and uh I know that there was uh a significant campaign to get Highway 41 widened between Excelsior and Elkhorn, and it sounds like we're about ready to start moving some dirt, yeah?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so for our Expel Excelsior Expressway project, that project will actually be advertised by the end of this year, and we're projecting for construction to begin in March of 2026. Um, we do have that stretch along 41 between Excelsior and Elcorn that hasn't been addressed. And through this project, we plan to you know have continuity along State Route 41 and widen the freeway to where we'll have two lanes headed northbound and two lanes headed southbound, just because that section, as well as the northern end of uh State Route 41 getting to Fresno and the southern end of State Route 41 entering Lamore has been addressed already. So, with this project, we can expect for there to be a continuous two lanes headed northbound and southbound.
SPEAKER_01:So let's look southbound now. A lot of people are really impressed by all the projects there at 41 and 46 with that new interchange. And uh, I think some of the confusion is slowly but surely going away. But uh here in Kings County, we have two projects along 41 that are hopefully going to be alleviating some of the traffic concerns that we have in uh Kettleman City and then in Stratford. Um actually the proposed roundabouts. So uh first of all, let's start in Stratford.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so right now, uh along State Route 41, they're near the city of Stratford at Laurel Avenue, um, we don't have turn pockets or any traffic lights. Um and for the community members of Stratford, they felt the need for either one or the other. And because when you have community members who are attempting to either make their way out of Stratford or into Stratford, um we can have traffic queue up um for extensive periods out of time. And by building a roundabout at this specific area, it will help the community members to be able to either go on their daily commutes to work or on their way homes as well. That way, you know, they have a safe way to get into and out of their communities without having to worry about traffic queuing up behind them or having motorists attempt to um at some times drive in the shoulder to get past um the the queue of traffic that's accumulating. So, yeah, like I mentioned, Rob, um, by building that roundabout, you know, we're we're we just want to make sure that the the community members and people traveling to and from the coast have continuity and don't have to experience um some of the delays that they're experiencing along State Route 41 right now.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I know the last time we spoke, we were talking about that bridge project uh near Stratford there, and that's completed and smooth. So moving uh again farther south through Kettleman City, that is a whole nother thing. You were talking about people driving on the shoulder. I've experienced that not driving on the shoulder, but people passing me uh, you know, uh on the shoulder. And so there's a lot of issues to be addressed in Kettleman City. So uh let's let's hear about that project.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so the Kettleman roundabout is one of our bigger projects that's going to be coming. That construction is anticipated to start in the summer of 2026. With that roundabout, we do know that in Kettleman um we do get a lot of, you know, whether it be semi-trucks or people traveling to and from the coast, like we mentioned earlier. So by incorporating that roundabout, um, we'd like to, like I mentioned, increase mobility. It's just depending on the time of the year, whether it be the summer. Summer's usually when we'll see um larger amounts of traffic heading to the coast. So the city of Kettleman also gets backed up with traffic in that specific area. Um, and by building that roundabout, we want to make sure to provide motorists a way that they can uh, you know, don't have to experience these delays anymore. That way when they're traveling, and whether they need to stop at, you know, whether it be in and out or or get some gas headed to and from the coast by utilizing that roundabout, they don't have to experience these delays. That specific roundabout is going to be a multi-lane roundabout because there are lots of semis that travel in that area. And we did take that into consideration. We were designing the project specifications to make sure that these semis would be accommodated for. And um, the goal is, like I mentioned, to get make to have that continuity in that area.
SPEAKER_01:You know, Alex, I really wish that you were here today to tell us that it's going to be four lanes all the way from Fresno all the way to Past Robles all the way to 101. But I know that's way above your pay grade uh to be able to answer those kinds of questions. But uh we definitely appreciate the uh effort that Caltrans has put in, especially at this uh lately with the 1989th Avenue project, seeking the community's input. And it's nice to be able to have the community come in and share their ideas that they have for it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, Rob, I agree. Um, as a frequent commuter myself, headed um from the city of Hanford all the way to the coast, it would be ideal to have you know the State Route 41 widened all the way down to Paso Robles. Um, but for now, like I mentioned, we do have that roundabout coming soon. Um and hopefully once construction begins, you know, motorists don't experience too many delays. That way, once the project is completed, they will have a smooth, safe ride to and from the coast and whenever they're traveling through Kettleman.
SPEAKER_01:Well, Alex, it's been great having you on the show again. I want to thank you for representing District 6 Caltrans to be able to come in and fill us in on all these projects in Kings County.
SPEAKER_02:No, I think I appreciate you for having me here on the show and you know getting the chance to connect with the public and let them know um what to expect uh along State Route 198 and Stay Route 41 in these coming years.
SPEAKER_00:And now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley. It was a statement win on homecoming for Hanford High Football on Friday at Neighbor Bowl, taking down Tularie Western 55-14 to stay undefeated in WIL play. Both sides of the ball had things working for the Bullpups as the defense forced four turnovers, including a Clayton Threadgill 52-yard pick six, and turned the Mustangs over on downs another two times, holding a Tularie Western team averaging over 35 points per game in league play to only 14 on the night. As for the offense, three Jaron Mao to A.J. Williams touchdown passes spearheaded the attack, while Rajon Newton and Ryan Smith ran in a pair of touchdowns each. And a special note for special teams as Andrew Ortega went a perfect seven for seven on extra points. The Bullpups are in the driver's seat in the WIL, sitting at first place at 3-0, with a favorable schedule remaining. A home game with a struggling Mission Oak team this Friday before an always dangerous battle for the Milkan in Lamore on Halloween night. It was a tough one for Sierra Pacific football last Friday, falling in a close one on the road in Selma 23-20. The Golden Bears remain winless in league play, but two of those three losses have come by only one score. A tough challenge for the Golden Bears this week as a late season non-conference road game with Kerman awaits on Friday. And Hanford West football was shut out by Exeter last week, and this week's matchup is no small task for the Huskies, a road game with first place Emmanuel. In girls volleyball, we'll start with league leading Hanford West taking down Selma and Exeter in four sets last week to improve to five and one in Tri-County Sequoia action. This sets up a make or break final week of the regular season for the Huskies. On Tuesday, a battle at Kerman, where the Lions are also five and one in the Tri-County Sequoia League. The Huskies have already beat Kerman once in league play, but fell to the Lions earlier in the season in tournament action. Then on Thursday, it'll be a season finale Clash of the Claws matchup against a Sierra Pacific team that is responsible for the Huskies' only league loss. And Hanford High volleyball went 2-0 last week, taking down Tulary Union and Tularie Western in four sets to improve to 6-2 in WIL play, sole possession of second place. A league title is a long shot for the Bullpups as Lamore sits at 8-0 with two matches left, but Hanford High will travel to Michigan on Tuesday before a Thursday showdown at Lamore. And in water polo, the Sierra Pacific Girls went undefeated last week, a 12-6 league win over Exeter to improve to 5-1 in Tri-County play, before dominating tournament action going 4-0, outscoring their opponents 47-10. Capped off by an overtime thriller versus Madeira that saw freshman Alyssa Sousa net the game winner. And the Sierra Pacific boys doubled up Exeter 14-7 in their only match of the week last week. Both Golden Bears water polo teams will face off at Kingsburg on Tuesday this week before seeing Reedley at home on Thursday. And the Hanford High Boys water polo team split their two WIL games last week, falling to Lamore before beating Dainuba 19-7. The Bullpups are now four and two in league action. As always, we like to cover as many sports as we can, but we can only do so much without you. Any sport, any team, any level, if you have a score report or a team update, please let us know at HanfordInsider at gmail.com. I'm Eric Bentley, and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's all the time we have for this week's show. If you enjoyed this podcast and you'd like to show your support, you can go to buymeacoffee.com forward slash Hanford Insider to make a donation. I'd like to give a shout out to this week's supporter, Christy Camara. Thanks for your support, Christy. I really appreciate you. If you'd like to join my Hanford Insider email list, stop on my website at HanfordInsider.com to sign up for updates. Also need your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing on social media or telling a friend. For more information about the show, you can find this podcast on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, and YouTube at Hanford Insider. If you have a show idea, be sure to email me at HanfordInsiderGmail.com and I'll look into it. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.
