Modesto wants your ideas on upgrading ‘severely congested’ Highway 99 interchange at Standiford
The public can offer ideas on upgrading the Standiford Avenue interchange on Highway 99, including better walking and cycling nearby.
The city of Modesto will host a meeting Thursday evening, March 14, to gather input. It is nearly a year into a process that could have construction starting in 2028, assuming the money is secured.
The interchange and its feeder streets are sometimes daunting to drivers, and even more so to people on foot or bike. They date to the 1970s opening of Vintage Faire Mall and other attractions in the area.
Back then, road planners put motor vehicles first. Today, state and federal funding agencies prefer a “complete streets” approach. That means easier access for transit riders, pedestrians and cyclists. The mall is a hub for several Stanislaus Regional Transit Agency routes.
The corridor “is often severely congested and experiences higher collision rates than the statewide average,” project manager Toby Wells said in a news release. He is director of the Modesto Engineering Services Department.
“It is critical that we provide safe and direct access to the nearby neighborhoods and regionally significant commercial centers, not only for motorists, but also for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users through a complete streets approach,” Wells said.
Study area is near Vintage Faire Mall
The study area includes Standiford from Dale Road to just west of the interchange. Standiford becomes Beckwith Road to the west, a mostly rural area.
The planners also will assess Sisk and Dale roads as far as the south parking lots for Vintage Faire. And they will include the businesses on Sisk as far south as Rumble Road.
The feeder routes are four lanes on most of their extents across northwest Modesto. They widen to as many as 10 lanes at the Sisk/Standiford intersection. The corners there have crosswalks and signals, but there are no bike lanes there. Such a path does run from Sisk at Rumble across much of the city, under the transmission lines for the Hetch Hetchy system to San Francisco.
The study will look at how the interchange handles vehicles entering and exiting 99. It has had some lane widening and other work over the years, but no major rebuild.
Current stage costs $7 million
The City Council last April approved a contract for about $7 million with WMH Corp., an engineering firm based in San Jose. It is assessing design options and environmental impacts over 39 months.
The firm will estimate the construction cost and explore funding sources, none of which have been tapped yet. It was roughly estimated at $108 million in 2020 by the Stanislaus Council of Governments, which oversees transportation.
The current planning stage is funded by the Measure L sales tax and fees on developers in Modesto.
Thursday’s meeting will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the City Council chamber at 1010 10th St. More information is at www.beckwith-standiford.com.
