Airport Way traffic is going to get more congested.
A proposed 141,360-square-foot so-called “last mile” e-commerce distribution center proposed south of 5.11 Tactical on Airport Way is expected to add 1,010 vehicle trips a day.
Fehr & Peers — the same traffic consultant that gave the Chick-fil-A project a green light after determining it would not impact the flow of traffic on Yosemite Avenue contends the e-commerce distribution center will add 556 employee trips, 400 trips involving walk-in vans, and 54 heavy duty semi-trucks on a daily basis.
While the projected employee trips seems to mirror the 257 passenger vehicle parking spaces the project is being required to have, that is not the case with the walk-in vans similar to what United Parcel Service and Federal Express employ.
There are 854 parking spaces planned for the project that are designed specifically for walk-in vans. Fehr & Peers is contending there will only by 400 trips involving walk-in vans. Given each van has to depart on its route as well as return which constitutes either two trips or one complete trip based on Fehr & Peers methodology, the project will have either capacity to eventually handle either twice the number of van trips the traffic consultant depicts in the environmental impact report or three times the capacity based on the fact the developer is investing in park spaces for 854 walk-up vans.
It is being designed as a “last mile” distribution center. That means products will be brought from other distribution centers by semi-trucks. Then orders will be filled and distributed via vans. Typically “last mile” can involve customers several blocks away up to 100 miles away. The center will have 15 truck loading docks.
In order to reach destinations in the region the walk-in vans that aren’t restricted as semi-trucks meaning they can use any streets, they will add to the traffic count on Lathrop Road and Airport Way to reach Highway 99, the 120 Bypass or Interstate 5.
There are times now when you can see almost a dozen Amazon vans at the same time heading down Airport Way from the Amazon Prime distribution center on Louise Avenue just west of the Manteca Unified School District office complex.
The city also is vetting environmental documents for the CenterPoint South Project. It consists of two buildings designed as warehouses with truck loading docks. One is 52,029 square feet and the other is 47,485 square feet.
Those two structures will be built on the west side of Airport Way south of Crothall Laundry.
Environmental documents for both projects can be found on the city’s website on the development services page.
The city is counting on development to cover a huge chunk of the $130 million needed to widen segments of Airport Way from two to either four or six lanes as well as improve pavement on a 3 mile section of the corridor from Wawona Street north.
Development fronting Airport Way pays for upgrades from their side of the road to the centerline including the median. That is what happened when Del Webb at Woodbridge as well as Center Point Business Park developed north of Lathrop Road.
That is in addition to growth fees for major road projects distribution centers and commercial endeavors pay on a square footage basis and residential development pays on a per housing unit basis.
The city is proposing to spend $4.1 million to improve existing pavement along the corridor in the upcoming fiscal year starting July 1. The most egregious segments will be replaced and less damaged areas receiving treatments such as seal coating.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
