Modesto drivers can suggest fixes for crazy Briggsmore interchange. Walkers and bikers, too
The city of Modesto is seeking public input on how to tame the beast that is the Briggsmore Avenue interchange on Highway 99.
Road planners will hold a meeting from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, in the City Council chambers at Tenth Street Place. They are at an early stage of a project that could make travel easier for people who drive, walk, bicycle or ride buses.
Motor vehicle traffic flows well much of the time, but it can back up during peak commute and shopping periods. The interchange has little space for pedestrians and bicyclists, a funding priority now at the California Department of Transportation.
The fix could be fairly simple if this were a typical junction, where east-west routes meet at a right angle with those going north and south.
Briggsmore is something else. The interchange is fed by major streets that twist and turn as they near the freeway. One of them is Sisk Road, a frontage route serving shopping centers to the north. Orangeburg Avenue does the same from the south. Briggsmore Avenue itself curves sharply as it approaches from the east. Prescott Road meets it at a hairpin turn serving Walmart and nearby destinations.
The interchange also has Carpenter Road, a straighter route for businesses and the Modesto Junior College West Campus. And then there’s North Ninth Street, the original Highway 99, which also feeds traffic from the south.
Upgrades could be done as soon as 2032
Tuesday’s meeting is part of a process launched in 2023 under a $6.38 million contract with the Sacramento office of AECOM. The engineering firm will release a detailed report in early 2026 on design options. The contract runs to early 2029, including construction cost estimates, funding sources and environmental impacts.
Detailed engineering and construction would follow under separate contracts. The upgraded interchange could open as soon as 2032.
The study area takes in the Plaza Parkway commercial zone, streets around MJC and the western frontage on 99 north to Standiford Avenue.
Modesto is covering the contract cost with federal money and the local Measure L sales tax. The project could cost a total of $138 million to design and build, according to the Stanislaus Council of Governments. Little is on hand beyond the current planning stage.
Bee readers suggested fixes in 2022
The Modesto Bee asked readers in 2022 for ideas on fixing the interchange. Some envisioned new cloverleafs, roundabouts and other major public works. Others suggested tweaks such as better signal timing and police enforcement.
The city has a similar planning process for the Standiford interchange on 99. The initial design concepts last year drew protests from Vintage Faire Mall and nearby businesses about losing property to new ramps and roundabouts.
The freeway has had its current alignment since the mid-1960s. Briggsmore, Standiford and Pelandale Avenue had simpler layouts that were changed as those parts of Modesto grew in ensuing decades.
Caltrans also has changed over that time, from mainly building highways to today’s “complete streets” policy. It calls for generous sidewalks, safe bike lanes and easier access to transit stops.
The Briggsmore and Standiford areas are now served by Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority buses. Highway 99 has parallel freight tracks that will start carrying an extension of the Altamont Corridor Express as soon as late 2026. The station nearest to Briggsmore will be in downtown Modesto, a two-mile stretch getting bike lane upgrades in a separate project.
More information on the Briggsmore project, including commenting via email, is at www.briggsmore-carpenter.com.
This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 1:30 PM.
