Central California's Highway 99 upgrade

Over the years, as traffic congestion visibly worsened in major coastal cities, California's central valley began growing, increasing pressure on a roadway never designed to handle heavy commute traffic or the goods movement demands of one of the world's prime agricultural areas.

The

majority of growth has been along a 274-mile stretch of Highway 99, the San Joaquin Valley. Stockton and Modesto, at the north end of the San Joaquin Valley, are experiencing exceedingly robust growth.

According the U.S. Census Bureau, between 2000 and 2003, California's population grew a little under 5 percent, but Stockton grew more than 11 percent, and Modesto grew nearly 14 percent. The city of Modesto estimates that more than 20 percent of the area workforce commutes to jobs outside the county.

Increased resident and commuter travel is only part of the problem. Goods movement is an enormous challenge. The state's Business, Transportation and Housing Agency projects that goods movement on Highway 99 will increase 60 percent in the next 20 years. Today, truck volumes are as high as 30 percent along some sections of Highway 99. The state average is 9 percent.

One of the contributors to this increase in goods movement is the Port of Stockton, which was designated a Priority Global Gateway in the state's Global Gateways Development Plan. The Port of Stockton is increasingly the valley's gateway for not only goods, but also construction materials such as cement, steel and aggregates.

Getting goods from the port — and other points of origin — to their destination is hampered by the limitations of Highway 99. The highway lacks the capacity and the design features to accommodate the growth in population and trucking.

The route does not meet interstate highway standards, and in some areas it is extremely deficient. However, Highway 99 was designated as a Farm-To-Market High Priority Corridor with possible future interstate status in the last federal reauthorization bill.

According to Fresno-area congressman George Radanovich, the language in the reauthorization bill, TEA-LU, gives Caltrans the authority to make the necessary improvements to the highway within the next 12 years to bring it up to interstate standards.

The challenges are enormous. Highway 99 varies from county to county, and it's not just differences in median treatments, landscaping and sound walls. Some sections of Highway 99 are two-lane roads with dangerous at-grade crossings. Old overpasses and bridges do not have the vertical clearance needed for modern trucks and many ramps have short acceleration and deceleration lengths.

Some estimate that it would cost $25 billion to upgrade Highway 99 to interstate standards. A significant portion of that expense is related to upgrading bridges and overpasses.

Caltrans and other groups, including the Great Valley Center, have developed a Route 99 Corridor Enhancement Master Plan that calls for $6 billion in improvements to close the gaps in this workhorse highway. Primarily, this work would focus on:

• eliminating at-grade intersections (specifically in Sacramento, Merced and Madera counties),

• widening the corridor to at least six lanes,

• updating interchanges, and

• adding and improving ramps.

The first $1 billion towards the upgrade comes from Proposition 1-B, the $20-billion transportation bond package passed in November 2006. In mid-March 2007, the California Transportation Commission allocated those funds to 13 high-priority projects, with an emphasis on additional lanes and interchanges.

The first of those projects, expanding the Feather River Bridge in Sutter County from a two-lane highway to a four-lane expressway, will be awarded in August 2009. All 13 projects will get under way by December 2012. A complete list of projects is on the CTC website: http://www.catc.ca.gov/Route_99_Program.pdf .

"Caltrans is going to deliver these projects quickly and turn promises into reality," said Caltrans Director Will Kempton.

The lion's share of the Proposition 1-B project money went to the Stockton area — about $282 million towards a $500-million widening project on two sections of Highway 99 from four to six lanes. Caltrans held an open house May 3 to discuss design plans for this project with the public. Caltrans plans to award these contracts in 2011.

Not all Highway 99 work is dependent on Proposition 1-B funding. Numerous projects to rehabilitate roadways and improve safety have been under way for the last two years. Caltrans has programmed nearly two dozen capacity-enhancing projects in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Tulare, and Kern counties. Some of these projects have been funded through the Proposition 1-B allocation.

Work currently under way includes a $62-million, 7-mile widening and rehabilitation project in the southern San Joaquin Valley between Kingsburg and Selma. F.C.I. Constructors, Inc. is the contractor.

In Stockton, DeSilva-Gates is heading up a project to widen 99 to six lanes between Route 4 and Hammer Lane. The project also includes reconstruction of the Hammer Lane interchange and improvements to three additional interchanges. That project is estimated to be completed late this year.

In Sutter County, work is continuing on a $12-million project to widen a 3-mile stretch to four lanes from the 70/99 junction to just south of the Garden Highway under-crossing. Teichert Construction is the contractor and the project is expected to be complete later this year.

In Madera County, F.C.I. Constructors is working on a $51-million project to convert to the roadway to a divided freeway near Fairmead. Granite Construction has undertaken a $6-million interchange modification in the city of Madera.

In Merced County, Agee Construction Corporation is closing one of the freeway gaps in Livingston — a $26.5-million, 3-mile project. And Granite has a $74-million freeway and bridge construction project from McHenry Road to the Childs Avenue over-crossing in Merced.

County	Project	Funding Adopted 3-16-07 (in $ thousands)
Sutter	Feather River Bridge, two-lane hwy to four-lane expressway	$ 73,500
Butte	Chico auxiliary lanes, Rt 32 to E. 1st Ave	23,520
Sutter	Riego Rd. interchange	19,100
Sacramento	Elverta Rd. interchange	19,110
Sacramento	Auxiliary lanes, Calvine Rd. to Florin Rd.	6,860
Tehama	Los Molinas improvements, Orange St. to Tehama Vina Rd.	4,900
Tulare, Fresno	Widen to six lanes, Goshen-Kingsburg	156,400
Fresno, Madera	Widen to six lanes, Ashlan Ave. to Ave. 7	93,000
Madera	Ave. 12 interchange	48,400
Merced	Four-lane expressway to six-lane freeway, Madera Co. line to Buchannan Hollow	108,000
Merced	Four-lane expressway to six-lane freeway, Buchannan Hollow to McHenry Rd.	140,300
San Joaquin	Four lanes to six lanes, Rt 120 to Arch Rd.	135,000
San Joaquin	S. Stockton widening, four lanes to six lanes, Arch Rd to Rt. 4	147,442