There were three “accidents” in the 100 block of Main Street within 36 hours of the six landscape bulb outs being put in place in June of 2005.

One caused a driver that ran over the bulb-out curbing to blow a tie while trying to pass to the right where there was on street parking just a few weeks prior.

One vehicle snapped a tree planted within the bulb-out.

And another car — with low clearance — got hung up in a bulb-out requiring a tow truck to respond.

Within a week, two of the bulb-outs were so marred with tires scuff marks there was more black than untouched concrete on the curbing facing the flow of traffic.

There was a crowded council meeting the next month with people demanding the bulb-outs be removed.

The city, two months later, agreed to take out the most problematic one on the east side of the street near Wells Fargo.

The grumblings from drivers didn’t go away.

Finally in 2016, the city removed the remaining two bulb-outs on the east side.

In 2020, the council directed that the three on the north side be taken out as well.

But that was sidetracked by staff at time that essentially undermined a council  direction to eliminate parking through downtown to make Main Street four lanes from the 120 Bypass to Lathrop Road.

The removal of the bulb-outs were tied to a proposal to have an outside contractor replace the asphalt in the 100 and 200 blocks of North Main with pavers that staff effectively killed.

On Thursday, municipal street crews removed one of the three remaining bulb-outs on the west side of the street.

The other two will be removed in the coming weeks.

“The street crews are doing it when they have time between other jobs,” said City Manager Toni Lundgren.

As such, when there is a period between street repairs the city is able to do since they have obtained new maintenance equipment using pass through federal COVID funds, the bulb-outs are being removed.

The bulb-outs were the brainchild of a consultant who sold the city on the strategy of slowing down traffic and adding the bulb-outs that were landscaped, said it would make it more likely more motorists would stop in downtown rather than just pass through it.

There was never a controversy with the bulb-outs on Yosemite Avenue.

Rarely have those bulb-outs been hit by cars parking.

It also helped that Yosemite has significantly less traffic than Main Street that is one of Manteca’s major north-south arterials.

The city since 2005 has incorporated bulb-outs elsewhere in development plans.

Those haven’t been an issue.

Bulb-outs in neighborhoods are used to reduce the area of a street that pedestrians have to cross at intersections by neighborhood parks.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com