Renderings of Fresno station shown for High-Speed Rail project

FRESNO, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – The California High-Speed Rail Authority showed off the future of its Fresno station connecting downtown to Chinatown at an open house event at the DoubleTree Convention Center downtown Wednesday.

New renderings showed the clearest image of what the station could look like.

It included two plazas, one in Chinatown, and one at downtown’s historic Train Depot, met together by a scenic walkway at the station.

In addition to the exciting new renderings, residents, business owners, and more came out to give feedback, which HSR officials say will be essential to craft the perfect station for Fresno.

“We’ll take that into the design process, work through a number of other technical topics and issues. And then, by the end of the year have a revised design that we’ll come back to the community with,” Margaret Cederoth, Director of Planning & Sustainability for California High Speed Rail.

Prior to the meeting on Wednesday, we caught up with Morgan Doizaki, the owner of Chinatown’s Central Fish Company, a neighborhood staple since 1950.

He says he and other Chinatown businesses want the roads and access promised, opened. Infrastructure like the Tulare Street underpass.

He says most importantly, he and the others in Chinatown want to be treated equally when compared to their downtown counterparts.

“I don’t want to be the backside of High-Speed Rail. I want it to be entrances on both and of equal. In this day in age, equality is very important. And to show equality to Chinatown, it’s a must,” said Doizaki.

The good news for Doizaki?

HSR’s team says the plan is for the Tulare underpass to be open by the end of the year.

They also say construction could start on the station’s plazas by the end of next year.

After he heard the news of the update, and saw these new renderings, Doizaki says he feels more confident about the gargantuan project and that he and his community would welcome some major progress.

“You can’t start the trains until they build a station. So, once they start seeing a station being built it’s going to start really getting the ball rolling on getting people excited,” he said.

As for the final station design, HSR reps hope to have that by the end of the year.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47.