Jack Snyder — the driving force behind getting the 120 Bypass in place and arguably one of the most effective leaders in the City of Manteca’s 103-year history —may grace up to 5 miles of the freeway segment connecting Interstate 5 and Highway 99.
Assemblyman Heath Flora, R-Ripon, this week introduced a resolution to rename a segment of Highway 120 as the “Mayor Jack Snyder Memorial Highway”. If the Assembly and State Senate concur, Caltrans will determine where signs would be placed.
The signs, however, cannot be put in place unless their cost as well as the labor it takes to erect them comes from a non-state source.
“Assemblyman Flora wanted to do something to honor Mr. Snyder,” noted Jason Laughlin, Flora’s field representative. “Mr. Snyder served the community for decades and did it faithfully and always wanted to put Manteca first. The assemblyman felt it is important to recognize people like Jack Snyder so we don’t forget the significant contributions they have made to nthe community.”
Snyder passed away in April 2021 at the age of 92.
Snyder served 24 years on the City Council — the longest in Manteca’s 103-year municipal history. He is also the only “comeback” council member as Snyder got appointed to a council vacancy 12 years after leaving office and then won re-election.
Snyder’s five biggest accomplishments among more than four decades of high profile community involvement was getting the initial Highway 120 Bypass built, brokering a deal that secured the 52 acres of what is now Woodward Park for $1, establishing the Boys & Girls Club, securing Northgate Park for the city despite fierce opposition from city management at the time, and accepting a challenge from then police chief and longtime friend Willie Weatherford to establish a citizens volunteer corps that became known as Seniors Helping Area Residents and Police (SHARP).
It was his work on the 120 Bypass that impacted the entire region as well as the Bay Area. His most high profile achievement showcased his uncanny sense of out-of-the-box thinking to get around seemingly insurmountable roadblocks as well as his skill at organizing volunteers was the 120 Bypass.
Up until the mid-1970s, Highway 120 ran through downtown Manteca and followed the route of Yosemite Avenue that passed Airport Way and continued westward toward the San Joaquin River.
This was back in the era when the Northern San Joaquin Valley hadn’t yet become an extension of Bay Area housing and home to 80,000 commuters crossing the Altamont Pass.
However, traffic was an even bigger nightmare. That’s because of Bay Area people traveling to and from the Sierra and the foothills for weekend excursions had turned Highway 120 through Manteca into a rolling parking lot heading east late Friday afternoons and evenings and then head west late Sunday afternoons.
It wasn’t unusual for traffic to back up 5 miles at a time trying to clear what were then two sets of traffic signals in Manteca. While Manteca had only 13,000 residents — 74,000 less than today — it was reported by police and city officials that motorists at intersections without traffic signals would have to wait sometimes an average of five minutes to cross Yosemite Avenue during peak travel times on the weekend.
Building a 120 Bypass of Manteca was not even listed in the 20-year statewide highway project plan. When area representatives in Sacramento told the council the region lacked the political muscle at the Capitol to get a bypass project built any sooner due to the clout of the Los Angeles and San Francisco urban areas, Snyder decided the best move was to get the San Francisco Bay Area on Manteca’s side.
It started with a small army of volunteers who spent Fridays and Sundays walking up to stalled cars filled with Bay Area residents frustrated with the traffic delays and handing them flyers. Essentially the flyers urged them to contact their representatives to get funding for the Bypass to end their wait times trying to get through Manteca.
Snyder and his volunteers blitzed Bay Area newspapers and radio stations to make their case and get support.
In the end political operatives were stunned that Manteca was able to line up coastal urban support for what they had dismissed as a local highway project.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
