Part of North County Corridor near Modesto moves ahead. When will it open to drivers?
A key step has started on the North County Corridor, a future expressway serving Modesto, Riverbank and Oakdale.
Right-of-way purchases will begin on the three-mile portion from Oakdale Road to just east of Claus Road. Construction could start in 2023 on the four-lane route, which could open to drivers in 2025.
This $163 million first phase is part of an overall $688 million project that eventually would stretch 18 miles from Tully Road in north Modesto to Highway 108-120 east of Oakdale.
Parts of Kiernan Avenue and Claribel Road have already been widened near Modesto’s north edge in anticipation of the overall project.
The right of way will be secured with help from a law firm hired Tuesday, Aug. 31, by the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. The Los Angeles office of Nossaman LLP will be paid $871,250 for work that will include eminent domain if landowners cannot reach agreements. The first phase needs all or part of 59 parcels, mostly farmland.
Discussed for decades
Officials have talked for decades about a better way of moving east-west traffic in this part of the county. The corridor will serve residents, food processors and other businesses, as well as people headed for Tuolumne County. It will be a bypass for the parts of Highway 108 that now run through the downtowns of Riverbank and Oakdale.
The first phase’s west end is at Claribel and Oakdale roads, next to the Crossroads shopping center. It will run about a fifth of a mile to the south, then turn east to an interchange with Roselle Avenue.
The expressway will then go generally northeast, crossing over Terminal Avenue and tracks serving freight and Amtrak trains. It will end just east of its intersection with Claus, near the industrial complex emerging at the former Army ammunition plant. Drivers will continue east on the current two-lane Claribel.
The funding will come from several sources, said David Leamon, public works director for the county:
$21 million from Measure L, the sales tax approved by county voters in 2016
- $43 million in fees paid by local developers
- $71 million from state sources that has been allocated or is expected, including the fuel tax increase enacted in 2017
- $28 million allocated or expected from federal sources.
Three other phases
The North County Corridor is a partnership of the three cities, the county, Caltrans and the Stanislaus Council of Governments. They continue to seek funding for future phases.
The second would extend the expressway generally northeast to Albers Road, just south of Oakdale. The third would bring it to Highway 108-120 near Lancaster Road.
The final phase would upgrade the already widened stretches of Claribel and Kiernan to an expressway out to Tully Road. This would include interchanges replacing the traffic signals now at Oakdale Road, Coffee Road and McHenry Avenue.
More information is at www.northcountycorridorphase1.com.
This story was originally published September 6, 2021 at 3:00 AM.
