Which one of Modesto’s poorest neighborhoods is getting sidewalks, bike paths?
Modesto’s airport neighborhood — one of the city’s poorest — is getting sidewalks, bike paths, high-visibility crosswalks and similar upgrades this summer.
That was good news for one family who has lived in the neighborhood for a dozen years. “It’s very important,” said the mother Tuesday in Spanish as her 17-year-old son translated. “Most of the people here walk, and the drivers here are very reckless.”
The family of five has been in its current home on Kerr Avenue since November. Family members declined to give their names.
The area also is prone to flooding when it rains.
“I think it would be pretty cool,” said a 30-year-old man who lives on Tenaya Drive about the sidewalks. “My family has been here since I was 16.” He also declined to give his name.
When asked what it’s like when it rains, he said, “It’s swampy out there, bro. You got to be in boots or have four-wheel drive or a boat.”
Stanislaus County has $6.1 million for the project.
The California Transportation Commission awarded the county a $4.9 million Active Transportation Program grant in February 2019 for the project. And the county is using $1.2 million from Measure L, the countywide sales tax for transportation projects, for the rest of the funding.
County Public Works Director David Leamon said the pandemic delayed the project. He said he expects the county Board of Supervisors to award the construction contract in June. He said construction should start in the summer and take about three months.
About two miles of new sidewalks will be built on parts of six streets: Tenaya, Kerr, Mono, Tioga, Santa Cruz and Empire. Leamon said the project includes about 1.5 miles of bike paths and nine high-visibility crosswalks. The work also entails Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades.
The neighborhood is bordered by Yosemite Boulevard, the E.&J. Gallo Winery, the Modesto Airport and the Tuolumne River Regional Park. Half of it is in the county’s jurisdiction and half in the city’s. Nearly all of the improvements will be in the county’s portion.
The project does not include curbs, gutters and storm drains.
Leamon said he understands that is frustrating for residents. But he has said that the project funding can pay only for transportation projects and that the new sidewalks will be built in a way that reduces some of the puddling.
He said this project will bring sidewalks to about half of the county’s portion of the neighborhood.
Leamon said the county focused the project on the main streets that residents use to walk or bike to Orville Wright Elementary School and Legion Park in Tuolumne River Regional Park.
The project includes sidewalks on Empire Avenue from Yosemite Boulevard to Tenaya Drive, which is in Modesto’s jurisdiction.
The City Council last week approved an agreement with the county for the project. The city will own and maintain the sidewalks in its jurisdiction once they are built.
The city also will have the sidewalks in its jurisdiction built to city standards, which includes curbs, gutters and storm-water drainage. The city will pay for that work and have it done in conjunction with the county project.
Still, a city spokeswoman said in an email that “a good part of the airport neighborhood in the city lacks sidewalks and other infrastructure, as do other parts of the city that developed in the county before becoming part of the city.”
The neighborhood dates to the 1930s, when Dust Bowl migrants from the Great Plains built small homes out of mostly scavenged materials, according to a February 2019 story by Bee reporter John Holland. “They didn’t bother with sidewalks and such amid the Depression,” according to the story.
Little Oklahoma
The neighborhood once was known as Little Oklahoma. The neighborhood today is home to many low-income Latinos.
Leamon said the Active Transportation Program is highly competitive. He said out of every 100 grant applications, 10 to 15 are funded. He said the work of the Airport Neighborhood Collaborative played a big role in the county getting the grant.
Despite not including storm-water drainage, the project is a win, said Edgar Garibay, community relations manager for the Tuolumne River Trust, one of the collaborative members. “This project enables the neighborhood to have a more walkable and bikable community,” he said.
Leamon said Stanislaus County has received two more Active Transportation Grants since this one.
The grants are for sidewalks, bike paths and similar improvements in the neighborhoods surrounding Hanshaw Middle and Bret Harte Elementary schools in south Modesto and in the neighborhoods surrounding Robertson Road Elementary School in west Modesto.
Construction for the Hanshaw-Bret Harte project should start in 2023 and construction should start in 2024 for the Robertson Road project, according to Leamon.
