neepot

This large road runs the length of Ceres from the Modesto Airport to the 99. Often packed, this is still the fastest route to the freeway from all points east of Oakdale Road and south of Scenic. A large business district in the heart of Ceres already includes one Wal-Mart with plans for a Super Wal-Mart nearer to the freeway. Mitchell is pretty run down but as there aren’t many houses placed directly on the road, it doesn’t matter too much, just don’t get the wrong idea about Ceres from this drab feature!

Modesto’s fastest growing business hub runs the razor edge of Salida’s borders. Headlined directly off the 99 for the last five years by an enormous Costco and Loews, this street is often packed but actually has the infrastructure to handle it, a rarity in a town which has grown so quickly. Just past the glut of its frontage shopping centers, Pelandale is largely rural and becomes the tiny fivish block Claratina at McHenry.

The most famous street in Modesto due to the Graffiti Night legacy of George Lucas’ acclaimed film American Graffiti. McHenry is a bear to navigate but has an enormous cultural importance to any longtime Modestan. Though mostly home to businesses, McHenry has a substantial nightlife of bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.

Once a main drag of Modesto, Scenic is still the heart of a recently gentrified downtown. The street, which stretches all the way from Claus to dead end into Needham downtown is recovering nicely from its recent past as a home to shell buildings and empty warehouses. Reconstruction projects have transformed Scenic Drive into a useful business location and the housing boom has reshaped the old financial street into a residential haven.

This medium to large sized road borders two of the area’s high schools, Downey High is located directly on Coffee and Beyer High is only a block from it. The presence of school traffic during the morning and early afternoons of the school year make sections of the road basically impassable. Despite this, Coffee houses many of Modesto’s older professional buildings including a large portion of the major doctor’s offices and basically every fast food chain available in town.

Though it runs parallel to Hatch Road through Ceres, Whitmore is no mere twin to its notoriously traffic-clogged sibling. Whitmore is the true heart of Ceres. Businesses which count their histories back to Ceres’ country roots still thrive here beside new additions. Whitmore borders the Ceres downtown district and also sports an onramp to the 99 freeway.

This road, which fronts the 99 freeway for most of its length, is most notable as the street address of the Vintage Faire Mall, once the only choice for Modesto shopping but lately being overtaken by local strip malls. Sisk is a difficult street to maneuver with its poorly painted lines and inadequately maintained surfaces. It has not weathered Modesto’s notoriously booming traffic problem especially well.

One of two main roads running parallel through Ceres, now a growing suburb of Modesto. Hatch houses the big business sections of Ceres including Wal-Mart, Kmart and a fairly new Home Depot as well as a covey of large 99 cent stores which hug the freeway onramp. Mitchell is slowed by traffic and heavily policed for speeders by the Ceres police department.

One of Modesto’s main thoroughfares, Briggsmore Avenue is the fastest way to cross town, as long as you’re going east or west. Briggsmore has possibly scaled most admirably of all large roads in town to Modesto’s population boom. Also home to Modesto’s largest freeway onramp, Briggsmore Avenue long ago established the dubious honor of Modesto’s most dangerous intersection where it intersects with Prescott Road.

One of two streets in town bearing this name, this short street near the intersection of Orangeburg Avenue and Sunrise Avenue runs along the short side of Sutter Park. Relatively secluded despite its central location, this street is composed of close to ten houses built as a small subdivision in the 1940s. The neighborhood is closely knit with many of the residents having lived on the street for years.