Manteca is preparing to move forward with four major endeavors designed to upgrade city streets and improve safety.

*Placing micro-surfacing slurry seal and cape seal — along with striping — in the area bounded by Yosemite Avenue on the north, Spreckels Avenue on the east, Moffat Boulevard on the west and Main Street on the west.

*Award a $1.8 million contract to improve Lathrop Road between Highway 99 and Lathrop Road.

*Calling for bids for a $2 million project to make safety improvements on North Main Street between Alameda Street and Northgate Drive.

*Getting ready for the contractor to start work on a $3.6 million pavement upgrade project on Louise Avenue between North Main Street and the roundabout west of Cottage Avenue.

The City Council when they meet Tuesday at 6 p.m. will consider approving a proposal by staff to invest funds for the 2024 annual pavement maintenance project to the area bounded by Yosemite, Spreckels, Moffat, and Main.

The City Council has stressed the importance of having a pavement maintenance program in place to prolong existing pavement life and reduce more costly repairs in the future.

The council last month awarded the bid for the Louise Avenue work. On Tuesday, they will consider awarding the bid for the Lathrop Road work.

The work on the two major east-west arterials are similar.

It entails grinding and removing the existing asphalt where surface failure is prevalent, removing the entire asphalt sections where base failure is visible, amending and recompacting the aggregate base as needed, installing new asphalt, updating signage, striping and pavement markings, and Americans with Disabilities Act curb ramps.

The Main Street work includes:

*the installation of bike lanes.

*raised medians.

*median fencing to prevent pedestrians from crossing mid-block.

*enhanced pedestrian crossings

*a High Intensity Activated Crosswalk Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon signal system at the Main Street intersection with Edison Street.

*slurry seal from Northgate Drive to Alameda Street.

*traffic signal loop modifications along Main Street from Northgate Drive to Alameda Street.

The work — except for the pavement slurry — is being funded with a state safety grant.

Funding for the Lathrop Road work will come from a regional transportation impact fee assessed on growth and the city’s share of state gas tax.

When all is said and done, almost 2 miles of pavement issues with arterial streets in Manteca will be addressed by year’s end.

Combined with just under three miles on the Airport Way corridor between Woodward Avenue and Roth Road that was improved in  late 2022, Manteca will have upgraded almost five miles of major streets over a two-year period.

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 in the segment 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.