The 1970s planning flub that led Manteca to hiring its first in-house traffic engineer is finally being addressed.

The $3.1 million Louise Avenue pavement project now underway between Main Street and the roundabout west of Cottage Avenue will include median work to address traffic flow and safety issues at the entrance to shopping centers saddling the mostly four-lane arterial.

It involves the two driveways from Louise — one accessing the center anchored by SaveMart on the north and one anchored by California Total Fitness on the south.

When the city in the 1970s approved both projects planning staff failed to make sure the driveways aligned.

The result created off-setting entrances that made turn movements more perilous.

Over the years there have been a number of fender benders in the area.

The solution is to extend the finger median that was installed when the 7-Eleven was built earlier this year on the northeast corner of the Main and Louise intersection to prevent people from turning left in and out of the convenience store/gas station.

When finished, left turns into the SaveMart center will be allowed from eastbound Louise.

Westbound Louise traffic will not be able to turn left into the center anchored by California Fitness.

Those trying to reach the health club and other concerns from the west on Louise can make a U-turn at Main Street or turn left on Main and access the center from an entrance farther to the south.

There will be no left turns out of either parking lot onto Louise Avenue.

At the same time, the project will extend the left turn pocket from eastbound Louise to northbound Main by altering the median across from Walgreens and Jack-in-the-Box.

“We (the council) told staff we want to make sure we address safety issues when we do pavement work,” noted Manteca Mayor Gary Singh.

Engineering zeroed in on the off-setting driveways as well as capacity issues with the left turn pocket from eastbound Louise to northbound Main.

Louise Avenue isn’t the only major road work underway.

City crews have grinded pavement and are in the process of applying new asphalt to Yosemite Avenue between Main Street and the train tracks in downtown.

A contract has been awarded for pavement work on Lathrop Road between Highway 99 and Union Road.

The completion of Lathrop Road work will mean that arterial between Airport Way and Highway 99 has had all of its problematic pavement addressed in the last several years. That includes a segment just east of Lathrop Road that was completely rebuilt.

When the Louise Avenue work is completed, it will mean the entire 3½ mile segment of Louise Avenue between Airport Way and the eastern city limits has been improved in the past 15 years either by a city initiated project or via improvements developers made as part of growth-related requirements.

The two big deficiencies that remain is a section just east of Main Street that has yet to be widened to four lanes and the eventual widening of the Louise Avenue overcrossing of Highway 99 to four lanes.

The city’s upcoming pavement work won’t address the fact the Louise Avenue overcrossing of Highway 99 narrows the road again down to two lanes before returning to four lanes on the east side of the freeway.

The bridge widening easily is a $10 million plus endeavor.

It also is extremely low on the list of pressing road fixes in Manteca.

And because it would require massive development east of Highway 99 to put enough pressure on the Louise Avenue corridor to make widening the bridge deck an absolute must, it is likely a need that won’t become critical for at least 10 to 20 years if not longer.

As for the short section where Louise Avenue narrows down to two lanes east of Main Street, there is not adequate right-of-way for four lanes required of most arterials.

There are 11 homes on the south side of Louise Avenue heading east behind California Total Fitness where it narrows down to two lanes and then back to four lanes.

The city would need to acquire property — a costly and lengthy undertaking — to widen the street at that point.

 Upgrades to Louise Avenue from the western city limits to Airport Way have, or will be, addressed by development projects.

The only section that won’t be is the entire northern segment that runs along the Manteca Unified School District office complex.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com