Nine major stretches of roadway in Manteca are in the running to determine which one is the worst.

The “winner” — as determined  by the Manteca City Council — will get top priority for rebab work in the upcoming fiscal year budget starting July 1.

Elected leaders when they meet Tuesday at 6 p.m. are being asked to rank the nine roadways in the order they would like to see them addressed with what amount of funding the city staff is able to secure.

The council will also make the same determination for a collection  of streets in three different neighborhoods.

The streets on the list are drawn from those identified as having the most critical need for rehab and preventative maintenance work when an outside consultant  analyzed the condition of Manteca’s streets.

The sections of arterial and collector streets the council is being asked to determine the order in which work will be addressed are:

*Lathrop Road (Union Road to Highway 99)

*Louise Avenue (Main Street to Highway 99)

*Airport Way widening (Wawona Street to Drain 5 south of golf course)

*Center Street (west of Union Road)

*Wawona Street (Union Road to Locust Avenue)

*Mission Ridge Drive/Industrial Park Drive (Tahoe Street to Vanderbilt Court)

*Spreckels Avenue (Moffat Boulevard to Yosemite Avenue)

*Woodward Avenue (Main Street to Pillsbury Road)

*Yosemite Avenue (Airport Way west to railroad tracks)

The groupings of neighborhood streets are:

*Shasta Park area bounded by Main Street, Louise Avenue, Edison Street and Highway 99

*Cotta Park area bounded by Union Road, Wawona Street, Main Street, and Highway 120

*Union West Park area bounded by Grand Prix Avenue, Mercedes Avenue, Wawona Street, Union Road, and Yosemite Avenue

There are two distinct lists because of the different funding available for arterial/collector roads versus residential streets.  After the council prioritizes the projects, staff will maximize current available funds, incorporate value engineering into the design, and continue to pursue grant opportunities based on the road category.

A 10-year maintenance plan presented to the council in February provided city leaders with a snapshot of current pavement conditions. It was conducted to allow the city to use available resources to maximize results.

It identifies what streets are in need of major work before they deteriorate and completely fail requiring a complete reconstruction.

It also lists streets where preventative maintenance such as sealcoats or chip and seal is needed to prolong the useful life of the existing pavement to avoid the need for major repair work.

The city needs an estimated $50 million to do the needed work over the next 10 years

If the work can be done it will prevent streets from deteriorating to the point they will need significantly more expenditures to bring up to acceptable driving standards.

Based on gas tax and Measure K — the countywide half cent road and transit tax — the city is getting less than 50 percent of the $5 million a year that is needed annually over the next 10 years to do what work has been identified in the plan.

The city can go after pots of state and Measure K funds as they have in the past to fund needed work. But the money they are seeking is also being sought by  every other city in the state and county depending upon the funding source.

Demand — even with increased gas taxes— exceeds the identified needs throughout the state.

It should be noted the city’s street maintenance needs is a moving target.

That’s because streets that were in good to excellent shape based on the pavement condition survey and not in need to of some type of attention to prevent pavement from getting worse will age.

That means even in  the 10-year horizon the street maintenance plan covers they could be a need to perform work due to unanticipated wear and tear such as from shifting traffic patterns.

And even in the best case scenario if the city knocks down all $50 million of identified work over the next 10 years, other streets will be in need of work a decade from now.
The  city now has 264.70 center lane miles of work. If stretched end-to-end that represents pavement that would extend from Manteca along Highway 99 to a point 17 miles south of the Tehachapi Pass after merging with Interstate 5.

Seventy-two percent of the city’s streets — or 190.4 miles — are classified as residential or local streets. There are 86.8 miles of collector streets and 83.6 miles of arterial streets.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com