Closure of the eastbound 120 Bypass to northbound Highway 99 for seven hours will kick off the physical work for the $54 million first phase of the 99-120 Connector upgrade project.

The closure is scheduled from 10 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4, to 5 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 5.

The detour is as follows:

*Take the 120 Bypass to southbound Highway 99.

*Exit at Moffat Boulevard.

*Turn left on Moffat Boulevard.

*Turn left on Austin Road.

*Then turn left on the northbound on-ramp and merge safely onto Highway 99.

The first stage of the first phase will include initial work on adding a second connector lane from the 120 Bypass eastbound to Highway 99 southbound.

The first stage, which will take four to five months, includes constructing a new roadway between Austin Road and Atherton Drive as well as widening Woodward Avenue east of Atherton Drive to Moffat.

Local traffic will remain on existing roadways.

Then in the next one to two months, major construction will start on the connector ramp as part of the second stage.

The daytime construction will not require any freeway closures.

At the same time, the Austin Road overcrossing will be removed to temporarily eliminate the ability to cross Highway 99 using Austin Road. The at-grade railroad crossings on Austin Road and Woodward Avenue will remain open.

Freeway ramps will remain open.

The third stage will span one to two months.

Woodward Avenue will be closed to widen it to four lanes from Atherton Drive to Moffat Boulevard with new railroad crossing gates. It will be similar to the configuration of Industrial Park Drive where it crosses the tracks to intersect with Moffat.

Local traffic will be detoured to Austin Road via the new connecting road built in the first phase between Austin Road and Artherton Drive.

Woodward Avenue widened to four lanes will open during the fourth stage that will take between open to three months to complete.

Austin Road will be closed between Singh Street (the new name of the connector street built in the first stage) and Moffat Boulevard.

The southbound exit from Highway 99 to Moffat will be closed intermittently.

The northbound Highway 99 entrance ramp from Austin Road will remain open.

The fifth stage is  when the new Austin Road overcrossing bridging both Highway 99 and the Union Pacific railroad tracks will be built.

 The sixth and final stage will take between 1 to 2 months.

The Austin Road ramps on the northside of the interchange will be permanently closed.

The northbound off-ramp to Austin Road will be closed for a week for new construction.

Austin Road will be widened to four lanes from the interchange to the Frontage Road with some improvements made to the Frontage Road.

Final construction will be completed on the second connector lane.

To learn more and sign up for project updates, visit SR99-120connector.com.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com