The most notorious and perhaps most dangerous intersection in the Fresno area is receiving $2.5 million in upgrades to improve safety.<\/p>\n
Nicknamed \u201cFriant Roulette\u201d because of the number of crashes and occasional fatalities, the three-way intersection at Friant Road and Shepherd Avenue in northeast Fresno had some work completed recently.<\/p>\n
And additional projects are expected to be completed by the end of the year, including reconstruction of traffic lanes and widening of the median on Friant, according to City of Fresno councilmember Nick Richardson.<\/p>\n
\u201cSafety wise, this has been one of our priorities since I\u2019ve been in office,\u201d said Richardson, who was sworn into office in January 2025 as the representative for District 6, which includes the Friant and Shepherd intersection. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to say people need to pay more attention. But how do you build a system that\u2019s safer? Because hoping and praying is fine, but that doesn\u2019t always save lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city is trying to take as many variables out of the way, eliminate the excuses, and make this area safer for those traveling through the intersection daily and for the residents who live nearby.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"There](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/FRS_FriantandShepherd_02.JPG\" "\\"FRS_FriantandShepherd_02.JPG\\"")
There are now signals for each lane on northbound Friant Road at Shepherd Avenue to help reduce crashes. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com <\/p>\n
The first change to the intersection occurred Monday, with all five lanes for northbound Friant now equipped with their own traffic lights.<\/p>\n
Previously, the inner right lane of traffic that required vehicles to go only straight on northbound Friant did not have a traffic light lined up and above the lane.<\/p>\n
The far right lane that required vehicles to turn right, however, had two traffic lights.<\/p>\n
Some believe that created confusion since there would be times that traffic going north would have a red light, but those in the right-turn-only lane on northbound Friant would have a green light at the same time.<\/p>\n
The culprit to the majority of the red-light runners who caused T-bone crashes or near-collisions often had been traveling in the inner right lane going north, said Dan Wells, a nearby resident who runs the Friant Roulette YouTube channel that shows a live stream<\/a> of traffic and clips of collisions at the intersection.<\/p>\n Wells estimated that a major collision unfolds at the intersection at least once a month.<\/p>\n Late last month, Wells\u2019 cameras captured video of a Fresno City garbage truck running a red light on northbound Friant and T-boning an SUV. The same week, a white SUV ran a red light and hit a pickup truck and another car.<\/p>\n Richardson admitted the plans to improve Friant and Shepherd had already been in the works but the collisions late last month \u201cjust made us more anxious to start the projects.\u201d<\/p>\n Other changes on horizon<\/p>\n Richardson cited other changes coming to Friant and Shepherd:<\/p>\n On northbound Friant, protective coverings will be installed for the outer right-turn-only lane to prevent drivers heading north in other lanes from seeing the protective green arrow signal that sends traffic onto Shepherd.On southbound Friant, the ability to turn left at the intersection and onto Shepherd will be reduced from two lanes to one lane.The median will be widened in place of the turning lanes.The sound wall located on the southeast corner of Friant and Shepherd will be removed \u201cso it\u2019s less of a blind corner,\u201d Richardson said.Every lane on northbound Friant will eventually be going straight, eliminating the current U-turn lane on the far left side of the five-lane road.A protective curb will be installed on northbound Friant to help separate and distinguish traffic that\u2019s turning eastbound onto Shepherd from the traffic that\u2019s going north.<\/p>\n In addition, the City of Fresno\u2019s Public Works Department plans to install the Fresno County Intelligent Transportation System, which integrates electronics, communications and computers to improve efficiency and safety of roads.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Friant traffic lights will start talking to each other far better than it has been,\u201d Richardson said.<\/p>\n Richardson said he expects all the projects will be completed by the end of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at any intersection, you can always come up with ways to make it safer and slow traffic to a crawl,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cYou can do this, you can add that. You can take things to a point of absurdity.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have 1,000-plus cars every day coming through, you have to find a balance. How to make things as safe as possible but manageable for people so they can get to where they need to be in a timely manner.\u201d<\/p>\n Funding for the projects will come from Mayor Jerry Dyer\u2019s \u201cPave More, Pay Later\u201d<\/a> initiative, Richardson said. It is the city\u2019s plan from 2025 to take on a $100 million bond to pay for deferred paving around the city.<\/p>\n Jose Benavides, president and engineer with JLB Traffic Engineering, Inc., said safety improvements are good but cautioned they still can\u2019t eliminate the top reason for collisions: human error.<\/p>\n \u201cDistracted driving, speeding, being inattentive. Drivers need to address their own behaviors,\u201d Benavides said.<\/p>\n Richardson remains optimistic that the changes will provide a positive impact.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have the jurisdiction to roll down people\u2019s windows and slap their phones out of their hand when driving,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cBut what we have planned hopefully cracks the code and makes things safer and as user-friendly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/FRS_FriantandShepherd_01.JPG\" "\\"FRS_FriantandShepherd_01.JPG\\"")
The three-way intersection at Friant Road and Shepherd Avenue is infamously known as \u201cFriant Roulette\u201d for the number of red light-runners, crashes and occasional fatalities that occur there. The city of Fresno has made it a priority to improve safety at the intersection. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com <\/p>\n