Stanislaus transportation leaders to consider creating Highway 132 agency

The idea of creating a new agency to guide the design and construction of a Highway 132 bypass west of Modesto will go before transportation leaders Wednesday.

The future freeway segment has been criticized by some neighbors but is a top priority with elected leaders at the Stanislaus Council of Governments, composed of elected representatives from Stanislaus County and its nine cities.

They know what the proposed joint powers authority might look like because a similar partnership of StanCOG, Modesto, Riverbank and Oakdale has been overseeing the North County Corridor, a future freeway skirting those cities.

The Highway 132 joint powers authority would have elected representatives from Modesto, the county and StanCOG. They would tend to the needs of the future freeway, which would parallel Kansas Avenue west of Modesto for about 3 miles. Construction could start in 2016.

Critics fear disruption and health risks from soil piles contaminated with barium.

Also Wednesday, StanCOG will consider approving the wording of a letter to be sent to Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, R-Riverbank, asking for financial support for the Highway 132 project because that stretch “continues to grow in interregional importance for goods movement, regional commerce, economic development and even congestion management,” a draft reads.

StanCOG additionally will hold a public hearing on unmet transit needs, asking people for money-spending ideas to boost public transportation.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the third-floor chamber at 1111 I St., Modesto.

This story was originally published November 17, 2014 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Stanislaus transportation leaders to consider creating Highway 132 agency."