DINUBA – Sidewalk connections, curbs and gutters, storm drain improvements, park restrooms and a new roundabout are all set to keep city engineers and construction crews busy throughout Dinuba this year.
With a plethora of mostly grant-funded projects on the horizon, the Dinuba City Council reviewed the schedule for the city’s 2026 capital improvement projects at its Feb. 10 meeting. Council members remarked that they are likely to receive complaints from residents while construction is ongoing, but as they have experienced in the past, those complaints are likely to stop once improvements are finished.
“I wouldn’t want to have to detour either, but it’s part of construction — it’s part of bettering the community overall,” City Engineer Jason Watts said.
A majority of the projects planned for 2026 are geared toward road rehabilitation and safety improvements. This work will be funded by a variety of grants, including the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), the California Department of Transportation’s Active Transportation Program (ATP) and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Program.
Through HSIP, Dinuba will have three phases of roadway improvements: the installation of bulb-outs, sidewalk improvements and the installation of Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs). All phases are intended to enhance safety for pedestrians in busy areas.
“There were intersections in town that were more of hot spots, and so this grant source is going to be putting either sidewalk in or bulb-outs, making it safer, … getting pedestrians off the roadway,” Watts said.
Bulb-outs will force vehicles to slow down around crosswalks and make it easier for pedestrians to see traffic, sidewalk improvements will ensure pedestrians can safely travel along roadways and RRFBs will increase visibility at crosswalks.
Through ATP, the city will fill in sidewalk gaps and install curb and gutter in key pedestrian areas, ensuring that sidewalks extend the full length of the road. ATP work will occur all throughout Alta Avenue between Kamm Avenue and Nebraska Avenue, along East El Monte Way between Alta and Crawford Avenue and along Crawford Avenue between Kamm and Nebraska.
Using a combination of CMAQ funding and funds allocated from the Tulare County Association of Governments, Dinuba will also be undergoing a significant intersection project just outside city limits. The city plans to transition the stoplight intersection at West El Monte Way and Road 56 into a roundabout.
Unlike the construction of the roundabout at Kamm and Alta, the city is going to try to complete this project without fully shutting down the intersection, Watts said.
Other projects set for 2026 include storm drain improvements funded by the California Office of Emergency Services, aiming to reduce the potential for flooding in certain areas of the city. The city is also planning to make improvements to Well No. 21, including to the water main line and sewer line, to support long-term water system reliability and regulatory compliance.
With so many projects, Watts said they won’t all be worked on at the same time, but will come in “slowly but surely” throughout the year.
A full map of planned construction projects is available on the Dinuba City Council’s Feb. 10 meeting agenda packet.
