Modesto awarded $3.13 million to clean up, beautify downtown. How will it spend the money?
Modesto has been awarded $3.13 million to help bolster its downtown, including installing tamper-proof waste containers and signs pointing to popular destinations, and making improvements to mural alley.
The funding comes from Caltrans’ Clean California Grant Program, which pays for projects that clean up and beautify public spaces.
The grant will pay for more (and energy efficient) lighting in mural alley, installing street pavers in the alley and screening the alley’s garbage bins with attractive fencing, said Jessica Hill, the city’s community and economic development director.
Entrance arches also will be installed on each end of the L-shaped alley that runs from the Chartreuse Muse along 10th street to Rancho Fresco on J Street.
Additionally, the city will develop a plan to identify 25 other downtown spots that would be suitable for murals. It will install anti-litter signs and what are called wayfinding signs to such popular destinations as the Gallo Center for the Arts, Tenth Street Place (the city-county administration center), public parking and the new Modesto Children’s Museum.
The city also will replace waste containers with tamper-proof, rectangular ones that have separate bins for regular trash, recyclables and green waste.
Modesto was awarded the grant Oct. 9. Hill said she expects staff will bring it to the City Council for acceptance in early 2024. The city has until June 2026 to complete the grant’s projects.
This story was originally published October 17, 2023 at 6:00 PM.
