Detours ahead where new bridge will cross Highway 99 in Modesto. Here are closure hours
Drivers can expect nighttime detours on Highway 99 in Modesto to aid construction of a new Highway 132 bridge.
The closures will happen off and on during March and early April, affecting an entire direction of 99 at a time. They will be between Kansas Avenue and downtown, forcing vehicles to use city streets.
The project also will require a 120-day closure, starting Sunday, of the L Street offramp from southbound 99.
The $92.05 million project will shift a three-mile stretch of 132 off Maze Boulevard to a corridor just south of Kansas. Construction started in late 2019 and is scheduled to last three years.
The upcoming detours on 99 will be the biggest traffic impact to date for a project that mostly has been built away from traveled areas.
The exact timing of the detours depends on the needs of the contractor, Bay Cities Paving & Grading of Concord. It already has completed several bridge supports at the site.
The northbound 99 closures will happen up to four nights a week, Monday through Thursday, and last from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Drivers headed for Kansas Avenue can get off the freeway onto Sixth Street and take Washington and Eighth streets.
The southbound 99 closures will be on the same nights between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Motorists needing to get to downtown can take the Kansas offramp and then Eighth, Washington, Seventh, L and Fifth streets.
Drivers can get updates on the project website, www.stateroute132.com.
The new 132 alignment will run from Dakota Avenue on the west to the existing Needham Avenue overpass of Ninth Street on the east. It will have bridges also at Rosemore Avenue, Carpenter Road and Emerald Avenue.
Bay Cities is building the first phase, which will have one lane each way, free from cross traffic.
A second phase, expected by 2028, will widen the new highway segment to four lanes. It eventually could stretch as far west as Gates Road.
The funding for the first phase comes from several local, state and federal sources.
The closure of the southbound 99 offramp to L Street is expected to last until June 25. It will allow work on the eventual connection of the rerouted 132 to the east end of Maze Boulevard.
This detour is relatively minor because the next 99 offramp is just three blocks south at I Street.
Maze has been a state highway for decades, but the portion close to Modesto has too many homes, businesses and other land uses for efficient vehicle movement. Talk of a new 132 route dates to the 1950’s.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
