The Highway Patrol is investigating a double-fatality car crash on an infamous stretch of Hwy 46 out past the “Y” at Hwy 41.
At 12:03 a.m. Tuesday, July 23, the CHP Office in Templeton got a report of a head-on crash on Hwy 46 East, about 4 miles east of Hwy 41.
According to the accident report filed by CHP Ofc. J. Van Horn, a 2020 Hyundai with two people on board was going west on the 2-lane highway behind a semi-tractor trailer rig and going about 55 mph.
The Hyundai reportedly tried to pass, entering the eastbound lane and slammed head-on into a 2005 F350 Ford pickup truck.
The driver and passenger in the Hyundai suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene. The pickup driver, identified as Grant McKenzie of San Diego (no age given), suffered major injuries and was hospitalized at Sierra Vista Medical Center.
The CHP was still trying to identify the two people in the Hyundai and said the County Coroner’s Office would release that information after next of kin have been notified.
According to Ofc. Van Horn’s report, “Impairment is not suspected to be a contributing factor.”
That road, centered around the infamous “Y” interchange, has long been a troublesome stretch of State highway, infamous for horrific fatal crashes and numerous safety concerns. Highways 46 and 41 are two of the main east-west routes taken by Central Valley residents heading to the coast on vacation and for the shipping of goods, and is heavily traveled year-round.
Caltrans has been working on building a proper interchange to replace the Y, and has also been widening and improving Hwy 46 East to Paso Robles for many years, in what seems a never-ending construction zone.
Both highways narrow down to 2-lane roads as they wind through the Temblor Range of mountains, crossing into the Central Valley.
Among the long list of fatalities there are the late-Jeff Fairbanks, his wife Ann of the Telegram-Tribune (now the Tribune) and Siena Fairbanks, one of their three young daughters, who died in a head-on in November 1995; and famed actor, James Dean in September 1955.
