Detour alert: Modesto’s old 7th Street Bridge will close to make way for new one
Construction will begin in January, at long last, on the new Seventh Street Bridge over the Tuolumne River.
The final step was an $85.2 million contact approved unanimously Tuesday night by the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. It is with MCM Construction Inc. of North Highlands in Sacramento County.
The project will be completed in late 2027 or early 2028, said an email from David Leamon, public works director for the county.
The project requires closure of the current bridge in early spring so the new one can rise in the same footprint. Drivers will take short detours to the Ninth Street and Highway 99 bridges over the Tuolumne.
The current bridge was completed in 1916 in the ornate Beaux Arts style. It has had speed and weight limits since the 1930s due to faulty concrete.
The new span will double the motor-vehicle lanes to four. They will be flanked by bicycle and foot paths leading into Tuolumne River Regional Park.
The total cost is about $127 million, including design, right of way, and street improvements at each end of the bridge. A federal grant provided about $92 million of this. The state added $15 million in June. The county’s Measure L sales tax covered most of the rest.
The old bridge cannot carry semi-trucks, many of them serving the area’s food and drink processors. The replacement will take some of this traffic off the freeway and Ninth Street. It also will have a smoother connection to Crows Landing Road, now a Y-shaped junction.
The city of Modesto will upgrade the north end’s intersection with B Street and Tuolumne Boulevard, including the railroad crossing.
The original bridge has sidewalks, but they are too narrow for wheelchairs. The new one will have a compliant sidewalk on the east side and a fully protected bike lane on the west.
Both will connect with a new plaza overlooking this part of the seven-mile river park. Its master plan calls for a large gathering space, reached by paths that extend to downtown.
The old bridge had a pair of concrete lion statues at each end that history buffs sought to preserve. Two of them will be restored and placed in the plaza. The others will be stored at the county public works office on Morgan Road until their future is decided.
The plaza also will have an exhibit on the original bridge’s “cantilevered concrete” design. It crumbled much sooner than expected, prompting the speed and weight limits. No vehicle can go more than 25 miles per hour or weigh more than two tons.
The new bridge will stretch 1,238 feet across the main Tuolumne River channel and its floodplain. It will have concrete box girders atop seven footings, half the number now. The design is by Biggs Cardosa Associates.
The cost also includes $7.2 million for construction management by Dewberry Engineers Inc., approved by the county board last month. It will inspect the work as it progresses, including concrete pours.
This story was originally published December 17, 2025 at 2:30 PM.
