Area officials, contractors and other organizations involved with the North County Corridor project gathered on Claribel Road for a Groundbreaking Ceremony on July 8.

Representatives from Caltrans, the City of Modesto, Stanislaus County Supervisors, LAFCo, StanCOG and other groups joined together to review the longstanding history of the project, then grab shovels to symbolically turn over the first pile of dirt.

Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen and Riverbank Mayor Rachel Hernandez both described how the project came together over the past few decades. Project contractors explained how it is designed to connect Highway 99 in Salida with Highway 120 east of Oakdale, bypassing both downtown Riverbank and Oakdale.

They described the early stages which began with a redesign of the Kiernan Avenue/Highway 219-Highway 99 interchange, then widening Kiernan to four-plus lanes going east towards McHenry.

Then, at McHenry, becoming a widening project on Claribel headed past Riverbank, along Crossroads.

This next step, referred to Phase One, will continue new work on Claribel, connecting at Roselle Avenue all the way to Claus Road at the Riverbank Industrial Complex.

It will do so by creating a long overpass that spans the MID canal, going east, as well as across Terminal Avenue and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks, ending at Claus at the Industrial Complex.

Among those speaking before the groundbreaking, Stanislaus County Supervisor Buck Condit related one of the reasons he was happy to see the project expansion moving forward.

He was working as a Stanislaus Consolidated firefighter who had to respond to a traffic accident at Claribel and Terminal, in November 2018. It involved a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputy who was responding to a traffic pursuit.

He noted the officer lost his life, and said it was one of the most difficult calls he had to handle during his career.

Condit is the First District Supervisor, representing Oakdale and Riverbank on the county board, and is the current Board Chairman.