The 120 Bypass/Highway 99 interchange will become a continuous construction zone for the next five years if San Joaquin County leader are successful.
It would mean funding would need to be in place to allow the three-phase project to happen without gaps once the first phase breaks ground later this year.
If not, the second phase won’t be open for traffic until 2033 and the third phase not until 2042.
Lining up funding quicker could mean a complete interchange upgrade is operational as early as 2028.
It also means the Austin Road northbound onramp and southbound offramp may only be closed for five years once they are taken out later this year to start the first phase.
The interchange work was identified as one of eight high priority projects by the San Joaquin Council of Governments (SCJOG) due to its regional importance in moving goods as well as serving commuters.
Leaders from throughout San Joaquin County in a united effort successfully lobbied federal officials last year to secure $5 million to go toward the second phase of the upgrade of the Highway 99 and 120 Bypass interchange.
The second phase project is also among those the SJCOG One Voice effort will advocate for additional federal funding when they travel to Washington, D.C., to lobby key federal agencies next week.
The goal is to have funding in place before work on the first phase breaks ground this fall is completed. That way work could start immediately on the next phase of the three-part project.
Officials hope to have $28.1 million secured for the second phase from federal, state, and local sources to allow that to happen.
The first phase — a $51.6 million endeavor that adds a second transition lane from the westbound 120 Bypass to southbound 99 — also replaces the Austin Road interchange and reconfigures segments of Woodward Avenue and Moffat Boulevard.
If all goes well, work on the first phase of the project would be completed in the winter of 2025.
The second phase costing $28.1 million involves widening the 99 northbound transition lanes to two. Doing so would require a new eastbound 120 to northbound 99 ramp and bridge across Highway 99.
The current ramp and bridge would be converted to two lanes heading west by removing the median barrier on the existing ramp.
The second phase’s final design is expected to be completed in the spring of 2024 .
The third and final phase would include braided ramps for southbound traffic on Highway 99 and eastbound traffic on the 120 Bypass to exit at Austin Road and a braided ramps for traffic from Austin Road headed north on Highway 99 and west on the 120 Bypass.
It would also add a third travel lane on the 120 Bypass between Main Street and the Highway 99 interchange.
Other regional projects the One Voice effort is seeking federal dollars to help fund are:
*Design work for a diverging diamond interchange at Airport Way and the 120 Bypass that would be almost a carbon copy of the diverging diamond interchange at Union Road and the 120 Bypass.
*The Ripon ACE commuter station.
*Rail bridge replacement at the Port of Stockton.
*San Joaquin County’s Grantline Road corridor improvement project east of Tracy.
*The purchase of five hybrid electric buses for the San Joaquin Regional Transit District.
*Reconstruction of the Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard rail and roadway intersection in Stockton.
*The Interstate 580/Patterson Pass Road./International Parkway interchange improvements in Tracy.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
