A ribbon-cutting was held on July 24 for the International Agri-Center Interchange Project on Highway 99. Hundreds attended the program that followed in the banquet room of the center’s Heritage Complex.
The $79.9 million project, set to open in a few weeks, will relieve traffic congestion near the Agri-Center, a problem most challenging during the annual World Ag Expo. The project will also speed up transportation for trucks carrying food and other goods east and west through the new interchange.
Funding for the project came from several sources, including Measure R funds ($26.5 million), two state grants ($27.9 million total), federal funds ($16 million), and private funding ($9.5 million). The project was built on property donated by the Faria family.
Construction on the interchange began in the summer of 2023, but Tulare County Supervisor Pete Vander Poel, who served as master of ceremonies for the program, recalled a discussion about the interchange at a Tulare City Council meeting in 2015.
At the time, the city council was reluctant to move forward with the project because of concerns the Paige Avenue Interchange Project would not get done.
“I can stand here today and tell you, we are opening the International Agri-Center Way Interchange Project today, and we will be doing a very similar opening for a completely redone Paige Avenue Interchange Project,” Vander Poel said, estimating that the Paige interchange would be open in eight years.
Caltrans District 6 Director Michael Navarro would later lower the estimate to three years.
“These interchange projects, these infrastructure projects, they are so important to the growth and the trajectory of a city and a jurisdiction,” Vander Poel said. “You lay the infrastructure, and the growth and the commercialization will come. That’s what we’re doing here, and I feel so proud of that.”
‘Working together for something bigger’
“The city of Tulare is growing,” said U.S. Rep. David Valadao. “They’re doing a lot of amazing things. I’ve watched a few of the projects that I’ve helped with. We did about $4 million for through the project-funding request, and it’s going to make some real changes here.”
The project is serves as an example of the local, state and federal partnerships, elected officials agreed.
“This project is another example of what can happen when local, state, federal, and private partners choose to work together for something bigger than themselves,” State Sen. Melissa Hurtado said. “Years from now, millions of people will travel through this interchange without ever knowing the story behind it or the people behind it. They won’t know the countless meetings, the decades of persistence, or the people who quietly helped make it possible.”
Assembly Member Alexandra Macedo said that she is working with Caltrans to have the interchange named after Manuel Faria Jr. to honor his contributions to this project.
“Tulare is truly my home and it will always be my home. When I see investments like this come to fruition, it reminds me that we have to continue fighting, and that goes all the way back to the Faria family that saw this vision and wanted to be a part of this many years ago,” Macedo said.
An interchange that ‘may happen one day’
About five years ago, retired Tulare City Manager Lynn Dredge and International Agri-Center CEO Jerry Sinift presented an idea to the Agri-Center’s board of directors to invest in an environmental impact study for an interchange that “may happen one day.”
“I’m incredibly grateful that our board had the foresight and the courage to move forward, investing half a million dollars to help get this interchange started,” Sinift said. “Their willingness to invest in this future has really helped today possible.”
Tulare City Manager Marc Mondell then shared a private story.
“When I was doing my research of communities four-and-a-half years ago, I was being considered by a few different communities to be the city manager,” he said. “A big part of my decision of why I was interested in this community was because of that interchange.
He said that the interchange represents hope and opportunity for the city.
“About four-and-a-half years ago, my wife and I were in the audience in the Tulare City Council Chambers where council was discussing the extension of this bridge, this roadway, across the northern boundaries of the Agri-Center,” Mondell said. “Do we build two lanes or four lanes? I turned to my wife and said, ‘If they don’t build four lanes, I’m not interested.’ They made a decision to build four lanes, and I said, ‘I hope to God they pick me.’”
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This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: New Highway 99 interchange promises growth for Tulare
Reporting by Steve Pastis, Visalia Times-Delta / Visalia Times-Delta
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Steve Pastis, Visalia Times-Delta | USA TODAY Network
