The stretch of Manthey Road from Towne Centre Drive to the San Joaquin River is about to get a major facelift.

On Monday, the Lathrop City Council voted unanimously to award a $332,588 contract to American Pavement Systems to rehabilitate that section of Manthey Road through a three-step process. The first phase will involve grinding out, removing, and repaving entire sections of the roadway and will be followed by the application of a scrub seal coat that according to the staff report for the item will “apply the asphalt binder and aggregate mix into the road' s surface cracks.”

The third step of the process will be applying a microsurfacing seal that will seal the surface and improve the ride for vehicles. The final step before completion will involve the installation of new raised reflective pavement markers and thermoplastic centerline and edgeway striping and markings.

“This work will provide this segment of Manthey Road with a smoother driving surface, better traction and improved protection for the road' s structural section,” the staff report for the item read. “This segment will serve as a southern entrance to the City until the completion of Golden Valley Parkway to its planned southern terminus.”

The city received three bids for the project, with American Pavement systems submitting the lowest qualified bid at $302,353 with a 10 percent contingent of $30,235. If the contractor doesn’t use the contingency funds, that money will be returned to the city – which has already budgeted for this roadway project in the 2021/22 annual budget.

Two other companies – R&R Stripings and Markings and Tracy Grading and Paving – are listed in the bid submission as subcontractors on the job. Tracy Grading and Paving – whose portion of the project will include grinding out the existing roadway sections and repaving it, comprising 18.25 percent of the overall contract cost – submitted the highest of the three bids that the city received. The company’s finial bid was $71,559 more than the one submitted by Advanced Pavement Systems, and $9,912 more than the bid submitted by VSS International.

That section of Manthey Road is heavily traveled by vehicles accessing I-5 from the Mossdale area and those traveling from the west side of I-5 to River Islands – which is located on the opposite side of the San Joaquin River.