It’s a legitimate, and expensive question: Why didn’t the City Of Manteca widen Louise Avenue to four lanes east of Main Street when repaving work was done last year?
It came up again Tuesday when the owner of one of 10 homes on the south side of Louise Avenue where it goes down to two lanes eastbound between California Total Fitness and Garden Gate Drive questioned the city’s placement of a high visibility bike lane on his side of the street.
The Louise Avenue squeeze came into being as Manteca grew northward in the 1970s when tract homes were built around homes that were once in the county.
The resident contended the road work has forced neighbors, as well as himself, to have guests park at the nearby shopping center as he said they can no longer do so in front of their homes.
Prior to the road work, there was a white lane marking the shoulder just inches away from the pavement. Next to that was a travel lane.
The road work did not change the edge of the asphalt.
However, the new bike lane has several feet of asphalt between the bike lane and the pavement’s edge.
No one in that area was parking on the pavement per se because it was part of the travel lane.
On Thursday, there was one vehicle parked in the remaining dirt area between where the pavement ends and fences in front of homes are placed.
The city, in order to secure state funding that paid for the bulk of the $3.1 million project from Highway 99 to Main Street that replaced deteriorating pavement, had to place bike lanes along the arterial.
The bottom line is the city didn’t infringe on parking with the bike lane as it was a travel lane prior to the center line being shifted when it was re-striped.
The biggest question most ask is why the road wasn’t widened.
Assuming most of the dirt area in front of homes where a car was parked on Thursday is within the city’s right of way, it comes down to cost.
The PG&E poles would have to be relocated on the city’s dime and then a road base and pavement as well as sidewalks put in place.
It would also require obtaining right-of-way to complete the sidewalk gap. That right-of-way would cut into front yards and bring traffic closer to the homes.
The overall cost could easily reach the neighborhood of $1 million
It also has to compete with other pressing needs for road work for limited dollars.
Perhaps in the general category of “being careful what you wish for”, it would also mean the de facto dirt area for parking in front of the homes would disappear.
Then not only would visitors have no choice but to park on nearby side streets or do so in the shopping center lot which might not be legal to do so, but they would have to back in and out of driveways via a curbside traffic lane.
The City of Lathrop had a similar situation a few years back when they widened Lathrop Road to four lanes east of Harlan Road.
A handful of homes lost the ability to park in front of their homes.
Louise Avenue for years was a country road much like Cottage Avenue north of Louise until growth started reaching it in the 1970s.
The decision to make it an arterial was logical as it runs from Interstate 5 in Lathrop (and since 2001 even farther to the west) all the way to North Ripon Road more than four miles east of Manteca.
Eventually, the issue may be forced to widen the stretch of Louise Avenue if and when growth east of the freeway dictates the need to widen the Louise Avenue overdosing of Highway 99.
As things stand now, widening the overpass to four lanes is not on the city’s radar whether it is 20 years out or longer.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
