The project has been decades in the making and on Friday morning, hundreds of people were finally able to celebrate its completion during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, marking the major milestone in Tulare.
The new interchange is expected to improve traffic flow, especially during the World Ag Expo... and support economic growth year-round.
"Today is a huge day for the City of Tulare, and Tulare County, and the 99-Coalition and the organizations involved in this interchange. This is a major project, it's not very often new interchanges are built on the 99 corridor in the Central Valley," says Tulare City Manager Marc Mondell.
Planning for the project dates back decades.
Former Tulare City Manager Lynn Dredge says he remembers discussions as far back as the 1980s, "It's hard to put into words, how happy this is to me and how important it is for this community."
The project was a collaboration between local, county, state, and federal government, as well as private donors.
Among them was the Farias family, which donated the land where the interchange now sits.
The Tulare County Association of Governments, or TCAG, also played a key role in securing funding.
The project carried a price tag of nearly $80 million... which came from grants, local sources, and Measure R tax dollars approved by voters in 2006.
"It's awesome because just everyone that's worked on it says it took a whole team.. Someone said thousands of people worked on it, I think that's accurate, thousands of people worked on this project," expresses Ted Smalley, Executive Director of TCAG.
Caltrans District 6 Director, Michael Navarro continues to explain, "From start to finish, from environmental to construction to this day, probably about 7-8 years."
Caltrans says the work on improving Highway 99 in the South Valley doesn't stop here.
Navarro continues to share, "We do have a project that will be breaking ground in spring of 2027 that's gonna improve the 99 on this segment from 4 to 6 lanes as well as reconstruct the intersection at Paige Avenue next."
The new interchange will be open to drivers in about 4 to 6 weeks, as Caltrans finishes up the final details.
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