Work begins again on Turlock’s Monte Vista railroad crossing

The closed-again, open-again intersection in Turlock is closed. Again.

Monte Vista Avenue at Golden State Boulevard is closed as crews work to repair paving at the railroad tracks. The work, scheduled to start Monday, got underway Tuesday.

It’s the same spot that was closed last month as workers tried to smooth out the paving around tracks that ended up higher than expected following Union Pacific Railroad maintenance in August.

Each closure has come at a tricky time for the intersection, one of Turlock’s busiest and located between a major retail hub and California State University, Stanislaus. The August closure shut down the intersection during the opening week of the university’s fall semester. The closings last month and this week come during the busy holiday shopping season.

Traffic is being diverted to the next railroad crossing, at Tuolumne Road a mile to the south. The closure is expected to last through Thursday. The previous closure was expected to take five days but ended a day early, opening Dec. 1.

This story was originally published December 13, 2016 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Work begins again on Turlock’s Monte Vista railroad crossing."