A joint training exercise being conducted this week by the Salinas Fire and Police departments is affecting traffic on a major roadway in the city.

According to officials, the exercises began Wednesday and will continue Friday and Monday at the old Salinas Police Department building located at 222 Lincoln Avenue. The training aims to enhance emergency response skills and coordination between the two departments.

During the two upcoming training days, Lincoln Avenue will be closed between Gabilan and Howard streets to traffic.

Community members may see emergency vehicles around the area on those days but should not be alarmed as they are there solely for training purposes. Residents are encouraged to use alternative routes during the closures.

For questions or more information, the Salinas Fire and Police Departments can be reached at 831-758-7407.

Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.