Modesto’s College Avenue finally going on a diet

College Avenue could finally go on a diet.

The Modesto City Council on Tuesday is expected to approve a $1.49 million contract with VSS International of West Sacramento for road improvements, including putting College from Needham Street to Briggsmore Avenue – a distance of about 1.6 miles – on what is called a road diet.

The diet consists of changing the lane markings on College, converting it from four traffic lanes to one lane in each direction and a center lane for left turns. The extra space from reducing the number of lanes creates more room for cars parked along the street, a bike lane on each side of the street and a buffer between the bike lanes and traffic. The diet includes features to help traffic flow, including right-hand turn lanes at major intersections.

City officials say road diets have proved successful nationwide in slowing traffic, reducing accidents, and making streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

The road improvements include slurry sealing College Avenue and Ninth Street from Carpenter to Tully roads – a distance of about 1.5 miles – and adding a bike path along Ninth to connect Modesto Junior College’s east and west campuses. Modesto Associate Engineer Mike Sacuskie said the plans call for removing one of the two southbound lanes to install a path for bicyclists traveling north and south on Ninth. He said Ninth would keep its two northbound lanes.

Sacuskie said he expects VSS International would start work in early August. The contract calls for the company to complete the project in 80 working days. He said VSS will start with slurry sealing College in front of MJC’s east campus – roughly Needham Street to Princeton Avenue – to minimize the impact on the campus once the fall semester begins.

Classes start Aug. 24 and about 18,000 students are expected for the fall semester on the two campuses, according to MJC spokeswoman Linda Hoile. “Obviously, we’d like to have a minimal impact at the beginning of the school year,” she said.

Jeff Reed – president of VSS International and Basic Resources, its Modesto-based parent company – said he expects his company will complete the slurry sealing and road diet street markings on College by MJC’s east campus before the semester starts. “It’s very doable as long as everyone works together,” he said.

Modesto has held several public meetings regarding College Avenue and the road diet in the past year and the council approved the conversion in April. The concept has wide support, but also has its detractors. They fear reducing the number of travel lanes on College will snarl traffic and cause cars to back up at traffic lights. They also believe drivers will spill onto nearby streets to avoid College.

But a traffic study conducted by the consulting firm Fehr & Peers for the city concluded College Avenue was an ideal candidate for a road diet. Sacuskie said the California Department of Transportation is promoting the use of road diets where they are appropriate. The Fehr & Peers study said road diets are best suited on streets with no more than 22,000 cars a day. The section of College going on the diet averages 12,000 to 16,800 cars, according to a city report.

Road diets are used in such California cities as Fresno, San Francisco, Davis and Sacramento. More information about this project and road diets is available by visiting www.modestogov.com/ced and clicking on the links underneath the “News & Updates” header.

Funding for this project is coming from reserves from the city’s Surface Transportation Fund, whose funding sources include gas taxes. The council meets at 5:30 p.m. in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St.

This story was originally published July 13, 2015 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Modesto’s College Avenue finally going on a diet."