California Highway Patrol Sgt. Duane Ashley fills out paperwork in July 2001 as he examines a late-model Ford Escort Wagon whose driver was killed in an early morning head-on collision involving four vehicles on the bridge at Highway 12 and Tower Park. One of the vehicles involved burst into flames and was destroyed. (News-Sentinel file photo)

How can deadly Highway 12 be fixed?

From afar, Highway 12 still looks like a country road, bisecting golden fields of wheat, cattle ranches and scenic sloughs.

But up close, it's a very different and disturbing picture — it's a road of death.

Sixty-six people have been killed on the two-lane highway from Lodi to Fairfield, since 2000. The route is called "Blood Alley" for good reason. And that name isn't likely to change anytime soon. Politicians and transportation leaders say there's not enough money or support to solve Highway 12's troubles.

They've added safety signs and rumble strips. But these small fixes haven't stopped the carnage on the undivided road. People's lives are still very much at risk.

Trucks travel along Highway 12. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

A Lodi News-Sentinel investigation shows, however, there are options for building a new, safer highway.

Using lightweight Styrofoam-like blocks as fill material, for example, could allow engineers to widen the road to four lanes, despite the marshy Delta terrain beneath the highway.

Adding a concrete barrier down the middle — as done on Vallejo's Highway 37 — would eliminate the horrific head-on crashes.

Turning Highway 12 into a toll road, accomplished on roads across the country, could raise money for a permanent fix.

Yet it's politics, not construction crews, that will determine the road's future.

Repairing the road will come too late for many, like David Threlfall of Rio Vista. The Little League president and father of two was killed in a highway wreck in March, less than a mile from his home.

"I just feel like it's a terrible road, a terrible situation," said Threlfall's widow, Kathy. "I'm sure I'm not the only one who has horror stories to tell."

She's not. But dozens more families stand to lose loved ones if nothing's done about the unforgiving highway.

Contact reporter Chris Nichols at chrisn@lodinews.com.

First published Oct. 27, 2007