When Belmont Avenue exits close, how will Highway 99 drivers reach Fresno Chaffee Zoo?
It’s going to be a couple of years, but Caltrans plans to permanently close the Belmont Avenue on- and off-ramps for Highway 99 as part of a major rehabilitation project for the freeway in east-central Fresno.
But closing the Belmont ramps will also close one of the major routes for highway travelers — as well as residents who live west of the freeway — to access Fresno’s popular Roeding Park and one of the city’s most notable attractions, the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.
A schedule presented to the Fresno City Council this week indicates that the Belmont Avenue ramps to and from Highway 99, as well as the McKinley Avenue ramps about a mile to the north, will be closed in February 2026. In its place, the Olive Avenue interchange will be upgraded for improved traffic flow — and become the likely default route for traffic from Highway 99 to reach the park and the zoo.
Plans for the Olive Avenue interchange include traffic roundabouts on both the east and west sides of the freeway for drivers to get to the on- and off-ramps for Highway 99.
The Olive interchange and bridge over the freeway are planned as part of Stage 1 of Caltrans’ $400 million, 4 1/2-year project that will rehabilitate HIghway 99’s pavement from Clinton Avenue at the north to El Dorado Avenue at the south. It’s a stretch of just over three miles that will be reconstructed with more durable pavement and, eventually, additional lanes to widen the freeway to four lanes in each direction.
Other features of the project include replacing not only the Olive Avenue bridge over the highway, but also bridges at El Dorado Street and Belmont Avenue and a railroad bridge; widening undercrossing bridges at Nielsen and McKinley avenues; removing the Tielman Avenue bridge over the freeway; and a new sound wall to better shield Roeding Park from noise generated by traffic on the adjacent highway.
The Belmont and McKinley ramps are closing as part of the project to thin out the number of ramps that are crammed so close together on the freeway between Highway 180 and Clinton Avenue. Currently, the interchanges for Belmont, Olive, McKinley and Clinton avenues are each separated by intervals of just over a half mile, creating a jostling among drivers who are trying to make their way onto and off of the highway, particularly during peak commute periods.
This story was originally published April 19, 2023 at 10:58 AM.
