Board honors Kings County’s Colleen Carlson
-July 4,2020-
California High Speed Rail Regional Director Diana Gomez will leave her position later this month after being with the rail authority since 2012. Gomez will become the Director of CalTrans District 6- Central Valley as of July 13, she says.
Before being appointed to the CHSRA, Gomez, a Fresno State grad in engineering, worked for 25 years on transportation projects with CalTrans including a stint in Los Angeles as Deputy District Director of Operations.
Gomez has been on the front lines in her job as champion of the big rail project, the subject of plenty of controversy particularly in the farm communities of the Central Valley. Besides being an advocate she oversaw implementation of contracts to begin the statewide building process launched in the mid-state. Her office is in Fresno. She is a native of the Central Valley, her focus where the first dirt was moved on what is planned to be a statewide rail system.
During her 7 years in guiding the building of the state’s largest public works project, Gomez oversaw construction of some 119 miles of infrastructure from Madera County to Kern County with some 30 active construction sites now and more than 4,000 construction jobs.
Skepticism that the rail line would not move forward was seen in places like Kings County where residents are now watching it rise out of the ground this summer near Lacey Boulevard where the Hanford Viaduct will begin to cross over Highway 198. More than 7,000 production piles are being driven for the foundation of the bridge/ viaduct, also the site of the proposed Hanford HSR station. The latest numbers show over 400 workers are on the project in the 45 mile CP2/3 segment that includes Kings County.
Recently at a meeting, the County of Kings, Tulare and Kings COG and the City of Hanford discussed creating a MOU on the roll-out of the station and its implementation. HSR will be creating similar MOUs with the cities of Fresno and Bakersfield on the station implementation, confirms a spokesperson.
Garth Fernandez will be the interim Central Valley Regional Director as HSR works on permanently filling the Governor appointed position.
At the June 25 CHSRA board meeting Diana Gomez was hailed by board members and CEO Brian Kelly as a key person helping to steer the organization through plenty of ups and downs and though there were critics of the program – all saluted Gomez who was able to work with all parties. ”She has the ability to move the ball forward ” said board member Nancy Miller.
California High Speed Rail honors former Kings County Counsel Colleen Carlson
At their June 25 CHSRA board meeting vice chair Tom Richards honored former Kings County Counsel Colleen Carlson as an “advocate for her community” even though she was on the opposite side of the table in negotiations between the two parties. Carlson died recently. She was in her position with Kings County for over 9 years before stepping down last year. Richards noted that CHSRA and Kings County have now “settled their differences.”