We've turned country roads into expressways
Now for the bad news.
Unless someone figures out a way to overcome that record, there's every reason to believe things will get worse — more bottlenecks, more potholes, more backups and delays, longer commute times and more accidents.
Back in 1991, when Firoz Vohra was Modesto's traffic operations manager, he made these observations:
"The Briggsmore overpass is a problem, a big problem," Vohra said. "But if you think the Briggsmore overpass is bad, wait and see what Standiford and Pelandale look like in 10 years. They will be worse. Both will have high volumes of traffic. And there is no room for widening. Sisk (Road) is so close to the offramps."
Fifteen years later, Vohra is Modesto's deputy director of public works and still trying to figure out how to solve similar problems throughout the city.
"More people continue to come to Modesto, and that is putting pressure on our roads," Vohra said recently. "We are facing serious street issues, and if we had the money, the answer would be to rebuild those streets. We need a new source of funds or we're going to see even more problems."
The past 30 or so years have been filled with similar warnings about a host of streets, overpasses and intersections. Yet, traffic keeps growing and streets keep crumbling.
So, how to fix this mess?
The Bee spoke with former Modesto Mayor Carol Whiteside, former Stanislaus County Supervisor Paul Caruso and former Modesto City Councilman Denny Jackman.
The interviews are part of a three-day report on the state of Stanislaus County's roads, from congestion that jams up commutes to potholes that threaten car alignments.
Whiteside, Caruso and Jackman have invested considerable time and energy on city and county transportation and land-use issues over the past 20 years.
"We have not done a very good job in transportation," Caruso said. "We made some mistakes, some poor planning decisions. We never connected the dots."
SJ County has been a leader
Unlike San Joaquin County to the north, Stanislaus County has been unable to secure state and federal money needed to move major projects off the drawing board.
For example, in 1994 the California Department of Transportation started work on a $15 million expansion of the Manteca Bypass two years ahead of schedule. San Joaquin County used road tax money to front the state the cash to add two lanes to the 6.5-mile road once known as blood alley.
Meanwhile, Stanislaus County's Oakdale Bypass has been talked about for almost a half century. The project now is estimated to cost $100 million, and state funding has been scant in recent years.
"They (San Joaquin) had the leadership early," Caruso said, "and we didn't. They had definite plans and we didn't. In the early 1990s, we had eight projects on the board. That turned out to be a mistake."
That list included a Stanislaus County Expressway linking 24 existing and planned fast-traffic roads. A basic system could be built for about $365 million, with the entire system running from $900 million to $1.1 billion, according to estimates in 1990.
On down that list: improving routes in and around Modesto, down to Turlock and out to Highway 132; a Patterson-Turlock link, completion of Highway 132; and Oakdale and Riverbank improvements.
"We should have prioritized our projects and really pushed for the top two or three," Caruso said.
Whiteside, now president of the Modesto-based Great Valley Center, said part of the county's difficulties with transportation and land-use planning can be attributed to its ambivalence toward growth.
"Some people see (transportation improvements) as necessary for future economic development," she said. "Others see it as something that will attract or induce growth."
Many people in the county, Whiteside continued, "are reluctant to understand and really deal with the impact of growth."
Jackman agreed with Whiteside, but said that attitude is starting to change. People are starting to realize that growth is going to happen, and officials need to deal with it, he said.
He continued: "I'm not so sure we're dead in the water. It's because we got a later start on this (transportation) tax thing that we're facing a more dire situation."
Jackman said the county's politically conservative nature has made it more difficult to win support for tax increases, with the exception of the county's extra sales tax for libraries and some school bonds.
But people should not fear a transportation tax such as the half-cent measure that will appear on November's ballot, he said, because it's a contract that ensures the money will be used as intended.
"Any sales tax is regressive," he said, "and the person paying it (usually) doesn't get a good return. But the money from this (transportation) tax will stay right here. We'll reap the benefits on an almost daily basis."
Money raised from the tax increase would provide a pool needed to provide seed money to gain federal or state funding for road improvements.
Political turf battles
All three agreed that in the past, however, cities have bickered among themselves, as well as with the county, over priorities. As recently as last month, for example, the Oakdale City Council refused to endorse the transportation tax. The reason: The council asked for a specific timeline for the Oakdale Bypass, and that request was dismissed, said Steve Kyte, interim city manager.
"Dysfunction is part of the problem," Whiteside said. "There have been far too few statesmen and far too many people playing what I call 'petty power politics.'"
In the past, Whiteside said too many local leaders have put parochial interests ahead of projects that would have provided countywide or regional benefits.
Caruso also cited past political turf battles as one of the roadblocks to an improved transportation system.
"We have been unable to work together for a common purpose," he said. "The thing that astounds me is that no matter what the issue — transportation, water, air quality — everybody looks for somebody else to do it. It (finding solutions) can't happen unless it's done collectively."
Caruso said the county and its leaders need vision: "Let's look ahead 50 years."
Instead, city and county governments are so consumed with day-to-day problems that they never take the time to step back.
"When I was on the board," Caruso said, "we were always putting out fires. Someone would say, 'When are we going to start planning for the future?' The answer was, 'Never. We're too busy putting out fires.'"
Whiteside said everyone needs to be on the same page. The county, its cities and the people who live here must reach a consensus.
Growth is a given — the question, Whiteside said, is how to deal with it.
"People need to have a sense of what's going to happen and what's going to be needed," she said. "We ought to have a 20-year plan or a 25-year plan. You don't have to do it all at once. But everything you do should move you closer to the goals in your plan."
Sticking to the plan, Whiteside, Caruso and Jackman agreed, might be more difficult than developing it.
All three noted that it has been difficult for city and county governments to just say "no." Granting exceptions to rules, planning or otherwise, they said, can undermine your original goal.
Briggsmore Avenue through Modesto, for example, was planned to be an urban expressway with very limited access.
"Remember when the gasoline tax was supposed to pay for all our transportation needs?" Jackman asked. "Then they (state and federal government) started using it for other purposes."
Jackman said the days of the state or the federal government fully funding transportation projects are long gone.
"The question is, are we going to stay in the same scenario we've been in, repeating the same things we've done in the past," Jackman asked. "We can choose to do nothing or make a contract with ourselves to make the changes we need to make."
To read The Bee's 1989 report on traffic and learn how little has changed since then, go to modbee.com.
Bee staff writer Michael G. Mooney can be reached at 578-2384 or mmooney@modbee.com.
