Atwater / Merced Expressway - 1986

The purpose of the Atwater/Merced Expressway (aka Castle Highway) Project Approval and Environmental Document is to preserve a transportation corridor for a possible realignment of SR 59 to the north of SR 99 to Bellevue Road and tie into SR 140 to the south of State Route 99.

The Atwater/Merced Expressway project proposes to realign State Route 59 north of State Route 99 and convert the 2‑lane conventional highway to a 4-lane divided expressway. A Project Study Report - Project Development Support (PSR-PDS) was completed in June of 2001. Roughly $3.6 million dollars was programmed in the 2002 STIP in fiscal year 2002/ 2003 for the Project Approval / Environmental Document phase of the Atwater/Merced Expressway Project.

Caltrans was responsible for delivery of the PA/ED. Because the project does not have any construction dollars programmed, Caltrans has stopped working on the project. Over $300,000 of the $3.6 million funding for PA/ED has already been spent. Traffic Studies were started, but never completed. Preliminary alignments for three alternatives have been developed, but not fully analyzed. The project area is so big that the environmental staff does not know where to start analyzing potential environmental impacts.

In 1997, MCAG completed the SR 99 Major Investment Study (MIS) for the Merced/Atwater urbanized area. The MIS recognized that the direction of urban growth and industrial development will be occurring north of Olive Avenue in Merced and northwest of Santa Fe Drive in Atwater toward the Castle Airport, formerly the Castle Air Force Base. The existing SR 59 currently operates at a Level of Service (LOS) "D" between 16th Street and Santa Fe. Improvements to this corridor are in the project report phase of the project development process. The PA/ED for these improvements will be completed in the Spring of 2005. Due to funding constraints, the construction of the improvements to the existing SR 59 may not occur until late 2008. Even with the improvements to the existing SR 59, the corridor will reach LOS "E" by 2021.

The project area for the realignment of SR 59 is over 40 square miles. The three proposed alternatives originally developed were in the PSR-PDS phase, and have not varied significantly. All of the alignments propose to construct a 4-lane divided expressway built on a 4-lane controlled access right of way. They involve realignment of SR 59 to the north of SR 99 to Bellevue Road and tie into SR 140 to the south. SR 99 would be realigned to accommodate a 6-lane facility on an ultimate 8-lane controlled access right of way and an interchange with SR 59. A second interchange would be located north of the railroad on Santa Fe Drive. According the PSR-PDS, the construction, right of way, and environmental costs for the alternatives vary from $102,000,000 to $162,000,000.

Some of the key issues facing the project include:

a. PA/ED Funding

b. Development Encroachment

c. Size of the Project Area (Project Screening)

d. Refined purpose and need

e. Community / Stakeholder Outreach

f. Traffic Modeling

g. Real Estate Cost Escalation

h. Federal Agency Buy-in