ACE service is coming to downtown Manteca.
And that means more vehicle traffic on Moffat Boulevard.
The San Joaquin Rail Commission has submitted plans to the City of Manteca for the ACE platform project.
It will include parking for 124 vehicles based on the environmental impact report as well as a loading/unloading zone.
The actual platform will be between two tracks, the second of which will be built as part of the Lathrop Wye improvements now underway.
The wye work will allow easier commuter train movements from the Union Pacific Fresno line — that ultimately will connect passenger trains from Merced north to Chico — to the Altamont line to reach San Jose.
It will include stairways for passengers to cross above the tracks as well as an elevator.
The platform will require realignment of a segment of the Tidewater Bikeway.
The project will cover almost all the area on the southside of Moffat between the city’s transit station and the water treatment facility at Garfield and Moffat.
Access to the parking lot will align with Garfield Avenue.
The project as proposed, much to the dismay of Mayor Gary Singh, does not include traffic signals.
Singh wants to have the city condition the project to require the installing of the signals.
And, if by chance that would derail the project and eliminate an ACE stop in Manteca based on preliminary staff level discissions from several months ago, Singh wants the city to push hard to secure state funds through the safe routes to schools programs to pay for signals.
The intersection in question has Sherman Avenue connecting with Moffat at a sharp angle.
It creates serious sightline and safety issues that Singh believes will only get worse after ACE service starts.
The boarding platform is planned roughly midway between Garfield Avenue and the existing transit center parking.
Based on scheduling of current trains at the Lathrop-Manteca station, the initial ACE service is unlikely to conflict with the current congestion periods before or after school at Manteca High.
Singh said his concern is about the future when ACE adds additional trains.
The EIR for the Manteca stop completed a few years back estimated daily boardings at the downtown stop could reach 1,500 daily as trains are added to meet future demand.
Ideally, most of those passengers would arrive by public transit or be dropped off.
Since Manteca High has reorientated the front of the campus to Moffat Boulevard, that street has become even more congested before and after school with both pedestrians and motorists.
Garfield Avenue is where the bulk of the drop-off traffic at Manteca High exits and heads to Moffat.
Manteca High has a record 1,944 enrollment this school year. The campus is in the process of being reconfigured to accommodate 2,250 students based on academic programming.
At the same time, changes being made to the southern end of the Moffat corridor as part of the overhaul of the Highway 99/120 Bypass connector along with more growth in southeast Manteca is expected to generate more traffic.
Trains could start
stopping in 2026
The rail commission is working to extend service to Ceres — and downtown Manteca, Modesto and Ripon — in 2026.
Originally, service was scheduled to be up and running by 2024.
The two-year delay is on account of a complicated review process that Union Pacific Railroad – which operates freight trains on the same tracks to be used by ACE trains – must undertake to ensure safety for all and maintaining reliable freight deliveries.
The timeline now calls for ACE service to Turlock by 2029.
ACE trains would start serving Livingston and Merced by 2030.
The ACE system will tie into the California High Speed Rail system in Merced.
It is expected that ACE trains will ferry passengers to Bay Area destinations and north to Sacramento from the high speed trains when they start operating on the initial segment from Merced to Bakersfield.
The state plans to eventually run high speed under Pacheco Pass and up the San Francisco Peninsula through Gilroy and San Jose.
Earlier this year, the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission was awarded $40 million in Trade Corridor Enhancement Program funds to double track the Union Pacific Railroad line between Turlock and Ceres.
It now has $97 million of the $133.4 million needed for the double track project.
Following the same alignment as the existing mainline track, the project will also include the extension of two culverts, modification of the undercrossing at Highway 99, and improvements to 11 at-grade crossing locations. The improvements will enhance current freight mobility and allow for passenger service as a part of the larger Valley Rail service plan.
Manteca will also have a passenger platform installed along the tracks between the transit center and the Manteca Veterans Center.
The location will accommodate ACE trains for boarding and disembarking without blocking the Main Street crossing.
Service northward to Sacramento that includes stops in Stockton, Lodi, and Elk Grove is targeted to start in 2027.
Trains originating in Ceres will run to San Jose as well as Sacramento.
They will be added to existing ACE service from Stockton as well as Lathrop/Manteca to San Jose.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
