Manteca Mayor Ben Cantu spoke of more than 10 years of team work between a myriad of government agencies as trucks  ferrying dirt rumbled by on McKinley Avenue.

Cantu was addressing a gathering at the western end of Daniels Street Thursday morning.

The occasion was marking the official groundbreaking of the $23.3 million McKinley Avenue and 120 Bypass interchange project.

It will be the last interchange built on the six-mile stretch of the 120 Bypass.

That tidbit fact is inconsequential compared to what the event really marked.

As another speaker, Congressman Josh Harder would point out later, one of the three main impacts of the project will be “to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars” of economic opportunity for the region.

It’s not that the other two key impacts don’t matter. Improved safety and congestion relief for those making their way down the 120 Bypass that is part of the  longest commuter route in terms of time in the nation are both top priories.

It’s just that the regional economic impact can’t be overstated.

In the distance behind the dignitaries turning the ceremonial first shovels of dirt stood two recently completed 800,000 square-foot distribution center style buildings ready to lease. In the large expanse of open field between them and McKinley Avenue, developers of Lathrop Gateway intend to build more business park style structures that will generate thousands of jobs.

In the direction they were tossing the dirt, the 500-room Great Wolf indoor water park resort stood.

It — and long with the Big League Dreams sports complex — are the two anchors of a 120-acre family entertainment that is moving forward.

To the right of the dignitaries and hidden from view by the elevated 120 Bypass, crews have started four approved projects that will add more than 3,000 housing units to southwest Manteca.

There is little doubt the “change” implied in the world interchange is real and not wishful thinking.

It could trigger one of the most explosive areas of growth and muti-faceted economic opportunities in San Joaquin County this decade.

The Great Wolf resort by itself is a $180 million investment that has generated close to 500 jobs. It has set the stage to swell the net flow of room tax into municipal coffers by millions of dollars each year to support day-to-day city services.

The interchange will allow Great Wolf, if they decide, to exercise an option to add another 200 rooms. And that’s just the start. A brew pub is breaking ground along Daniels Street later this year. Work has just started on a four-story, 101-room Staybridge Suites on Daniels Street as well. And there is more to come. A lot more.

And it was made possible by the aggregated purchasing power of a penny.

Well, not exactly a penny. A half penny.

Every time a taxable transaction occurs in San Joaquin County, a voter approved sales tax for transportation related projects collects a half cent.

That half cent tax allowed the San Joaquin Council of Governments, working with Manteca, to use $7 million to leverage another $12.3 million in state funding or slightly more than three quarters of the cost of the actual interchange. That, coupled with growth fees and other income sources such as redevelopment fund, has made the work possible.

Manteca’s first partial

cloverleaf interchange

 The McKinley interchange is designed as the city’s first partial cloverleaf. But in order to save money the city is opting to build the inner ramp loops at a later date.

That means the initial construction will have all left turns from McKinley Avenue to 120 Bypass onramps go through signalized intersections just as they currently do at the Airport, Union, and Main interchanges. When the loops are completed northbound McKinley Avenue traffic will be able to get onto westbound 120 without going through a traffic signal as would southbound McKinley to eastbound 120.

It will include a separated bike path underneath the 120 Bypass that eventually will connect with the Atherton Drive bike path to provide access to Big League Dreams and the envisioned family entertainment zone.

Ultimately it will be a link in a separated bicycle pathway that loops the city going along McKinley Avenue north to connect with a path that cuts behind Del Webb at Woodbridge that crosses Union Road and ties into the Tidewater Bikeway. The Tidewater then heads south and ties in with the Atherton Drive Bikeway via Industrial Park Drive and Van Ryn Avenue. 

The McKinley Avenue interchange is also part of the long-range circulation plan for Manteca south of the 120 Bypass where more than 60 percent of the city’s population is expected to be by 2040.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com