Council member Regina Lackey wants Manteca to shed some more light on West Yosemite Avenue between a point west of the train tracks and Walnut Avenue.

Lackey brought up the need for more effective street lighting during Tuesday’s Manteca City Council meeting.

She said that several Manteca residents approached her about the overall darkness of the narrow two-lane section.

There is street parking on both sides that serves both as a key east-west arterial and a neighborhood street.

It is arguably the darkest stretch of Yosemite Avenue.

The section in question has nine street lights, with six on the north side.

The effective illumination spread of several lights are somewhat compromised by mature tree canopies.

Several residents often place orange safety on the pavement next to the rear left side of their vehicles when their park in front of their homes to make their cars more visible at night.

For time-to-time, there will be a vehicle with a string of LED lights draped on the back to make it more visible.

Lackey’s request to look at lighting may dovetail into a  pending city project designed to make the corridor safer for vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists.

The city in 2021 started looking at potential improvements for the section of Yosemite

At the time the possible work being vetted included:

  *installing a continuous left turn lane between Walnut Street and the railroad tracks.

*putting in place a high profile crosswalk along the stretch.

*adding Class II bicycle lanes similar to what is in place on West Yosemite Avenue east of Main Street.

The project sheet in the capital improvement plan in 2021 didn’t  provide a lot of details such as whether on-street parking would need to be eliminated.

Based on the width needed not to reduce the two travel lanes, the continuous center turn lane as well as two bicycle lanes, it is doubtful on-street parking could remain.

Virtually all homes along Yosemite Avenue have driveways.

The high profile crosswalk — assuming the option is still on the table — could end up having overhead flashers such as in front of Manteca High along Yosemite Avenue or flashers mounted on traffic signs such as those by the high school campus on Moffat Boulevard.

West Yosemite Avenue is crossed by elementary students going to and from Sequoia School.

The bicycle lanes would continue a municipal goal of making more of Manteca accessible in a safer manner by bicycling. It would tie into the Tidewater Bikeway just east of the railroad tracks on Yosemite Avenue.

The improvements pondered in 2021 were based on the type of collisions, the severity of collisions, causes of the collisions, and the location of the collisions in order to enhance safety.  

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com