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New road construction causes community uproar in small Calaveras County town

By
Carmela Karcher
Carmela Karcher
Carmela Karcher is an Emmy award-winning journalist who joined the CBS Sacramento news team in February 2025. As a Bay Area native, she is thrilled to be close to her hometown and reporting in Northern California.
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Carmela Karcher

/ CBS Sacramento

A center divide is creating a united front in the small town of Murphys in Calaveras County.

"I know we've lost some business, they've lost some business," Murphys Station Assistant Manager Joyce Turpin explained. "It's just relatively, I think it's more damaging than it's doing good."

Joyce Turpin has worked at Murphys Station for just over a year.

She says right when the cement median was installed along Highway 4 last month, it caused more harm than good.

"There's been customers who are regulars, who say, 'Well, you know, we've been going down to Chevron because, you know, we can't just turn in here no more,'" she said.

Businesses across the street say they've also seen less foot traffic.

Locals agree, saying it's a major inconvenience.

"Can't pull into any of the stores for the business, for this store, for the grocery store, for getting their deliveries, you just can't get trucks in," Local Richard Justice shared. "You got to turn all the way around and come and get gas coming down this way."

The county and many businesses claim they were never notified before the cement was laid.

CBS Sacramento brought its concerns to Caltrans.

"The big issue was trying to address the safety concern right away," Caltrans District 10 Public Information Officer Roland Armstrong explained. "So that ended up leading to maybe not the normal amount of communication we would do when we have sometimes years to do a project. It's something that has to happen kind of quickly to improve the safety in the area."

Caltrans says they conducted a safety investigation in this span of the highway between May 2019 to March 2022 after receiving a request.

During that time, multiple requests occurred, pushing them to put in the median.

But after all this backlash, they're reconsidering the design.

"It will include two left-turn pockets to allow better access to the businesses that are there right off of Highway 4 and we hope that that can alleviate some of the issues," Armstrong said.

In terms of what the community wants to see happen, they have a few ideas.

"Possibly the two left lanes, or just take it out," Turpin said. "I mean, yes, granted, it's waste of money, but you should have cleared it with all the business owners and you know, the community first."

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