Neglected 9th Street Corridor gets draft plan for a major facelift, neighbors weigh in

Stanislaus County held a workshop at Tuolumne Elementary on Wednesday evening for the community to review and provide input on a proposed “South 9th Street Corridor Plan.”

The planned improvement project covers south 9th street in the unincorporated area between Modesto and Ceres along with some adjacent streets. The focus is on walkability and ease of access for non-motorized transit.

Long-time resident Tamela Vasquez said the area often gets treated like an afterthought.

“We are looking forward to it because we are always ignored,” Vasquez said.

The area for the proposed improvement begins just after crossing the Tuolumne River heading south towards Ceres and Highway 99 from downtown Modesto in the neighborhood of Bystrom.

The region is characterized by a fast moving 5-lane road with almost no sidewalks. Though residents bike and walk along 9th Street, they do so with little to no protection from passing cars and the current walkways do not meet ADA standards.

Angela Freitas, director of planning and community development for Stanislaus County said this is a long term vision to work on an area that has for decades, not had the best reputation.

“Things have changed and this area has always stayed the same,” Freitas said. “This is an opportunity to elevate this area and make it the spectacular connection point that it should be.”

South 9th street sees over 18,500 vehicles a day, including large semi-trucks. A replacement of the 7th street bridge within the plan area would allow for heavier vehicles on the bridge — the project anticipates some redistribution of those larger trucks to 7th street following the construction.

If the plan goes through, it will add signals on River Road, Hosmer Avenue, and Sonora Avenue if it eventually connects to the main road.

Fred Arroyo lived with his late wife of 40 years in the neighborhood, and said he’s eager to see safety changes.

“I like some of it,” Arroyo said. “Like the signal light at River Road right there, and then the bike lanes because there’s been a lot of people that have been hit on bikes and on foot.”

The off-ramp from interstate 99 is currently what is known as a “slip lane” which allows for speedier entrance onto 9th street. The proposed design would “square-up” the ramp and add a signal to reduce speeds and increase pedestrian safety. The county plans to team up with CalTrans to get this done.

The plan would also add sidewalks and crosswalks at all signaled intersections and create bike routes. Multi-use paths, areas both pedestrians and cyclists can use, would follow 9th street heading south, connecting to Bystrom Road, and north, beginning on Pecos Avenue continuing up to River Road.

The proposal includes additional bike routes that would be along Bystrom and River roads. Buffered bike lanes would be added to the section near the 9th Street bridge north of River Road.

Despite these additions, 9th Street would maintain two lanes of traffic in both directions.

Anthony Butera moved into the area a year ago and used to live within Modesto city limits, he hopes that the plan can address the lack of lighting in the area. “I’m concerned how dark it is,” Butera said.

Paul Tischer has lived in the neighborhood for 50 years and owns a warehouse on 9th, he’s hoping to see signals installed at Hosmer Road.

“It’s very dangerous. Yeah, very, very dangerous,” Tischer said. “Plus, people speed on that street all the time.”

Currently, Stanislaus County Public Works does not have the funds to make the full corridor plan a reality, but does have funds to restripe the road and potentially narrow the corridor by adding a bike lane in the short-term. Long term, the county will seek public grant funding.

The plan would change zoning in some parts of the Bystrom neighborhood away from its current emphasis on industrial zoning, to encourage new commercial businesses, residential and mixed-use land development. As it stands, the area is used largely for industrial warehouses, recycling centers, auto wrecking yards and a truck driving school.

The main source of funds for land use development changes would be private funding with the possibility of some affordable housing funds.

Kristen Anaya, senior planner at Stanislaus County and the project manager for the plan, said the plan was focused on what the community wanted to protect, avoid and create.

“What was really interesting was that a lot of the assumptions and concerns that the project team had, were reinforced by the feedback received by the community,” Anaya said.

Monica Linares was asked by the county to provide Spanish translations for the workshop and said the process was easy.

“It’s very important that they know what’s going on, that they are aware,” Linares said. “And now people are telling me that they are going to tell more people that don’t come because they don’t speak the language.”

The plan was developed using Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles, a philosophy that centers around creating “defensible space” by developing a sense of public ownership and control to encourage self-policing.

Elvia Sanchez, an active community member, said she’s heard this all before, she’s seen plans to add sidewalks on Sonora avenue and to beautify Mancini park that were never completed.

“We heard about the sidewalks that were going to be put in — that never happened,” Sanchez said. “Other improvements like our neighborhood park, we never got improvements there.”

As part of the plan’s strategy for including public input , planners created an interactive comment map where the public can submit geolocated feedback online.

Tony Leonard, project manager on the community design team for CityWell, said this engagement portion will really help the county when they go for an application to show there is support for the project.

“This is the last opportunity for the public to weigh in and make any changes to the recommendations,” he said.

The draft plan was available for review starting Oct. 11 and the public comment period will remain open until Nov. 12. The final plan will be presented to the Board of Supervisors at the beginning of next year.

“It’s frustrating, everyone is giving up,” Sanchez said. “But then at the same time if we don’t stand up and use our voice, nothing is going to change.”

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