Alignment picked for the next Highway 132 segment west of Modesto. Here’s where it is
The next new segment planned for Highway 132 would run directly west from the project nearing completion in and near Modesto.
The California Department of Transportation chose that option rather than widening the current alignment on Maze Boulevard. The new route is half a mile north of Maze, a mostly two-lane road that has long raised safety concerns.
The first leg stretches three miles from Highway 99 to Dakota Avenue. It is scheduled to open Sept. 15 after nearly three years of construction.
Funding is still being assembled for extending the bypass five more miles to Gates Road. It will cost an estimated $182.4 million and could open as soon as 2026.
The current and pending projects were discussed at a Wednesday, Aug. 17, meeting of the Stanislaus Council of Governments. This body oversees transportation funding for the county and its nine cities.
The preferred route is Alternative 2 among the four choices studied by Caltrans for the next segment. It would provide four expressway lanes with interchanges at Hart and Gates roads.
Alternative 1 would have followed the same alignment, but with roundabouts rather than interchanges. Alternative 3 would have been built along the north side of Maze, and Alternative 4 along the south side.
Maze has been a state highway since 1932, but leaders have said since at least the 1950s that it is inadequate. It has just one lane each way without a median for most of the distance from Interstate 580 to Modesto. The mile or so closest to town has numerous access points for homes, businesses, schools and churches.
The first phase has been built under a $92 million contract with Bay Cities Paving & Grading of Concord. It will provide two lanes and a median to start, but there is room to add two more lanes in the coming years. The phase also would bring an interchange at Carpenter Road and more direct connections between 132 and 99.
The funding for the first phase includes the Measure L sales tax approved by county voters, along with state and federal sources.
The county has set aside about $72 million toward the Dakota-to-Gates segment. This includes $46 million in fees charged to developers and $26 million from Measure L.
County Supervisor Terry Withrow, who chairs the StanCOG board, thanked the nearby residents who have put up with the first construction leg.
“In the end we’ll have a safer road, less deaths on that road, and an easier way to get traffic in and out of our county, and goods and services,” he said.
