Work on a $1.9 million project to make two miles of Louise Avenue more conducive to pedestrians and bicyclists while enhancing the looks of the east-west corridor with start this summer.

The Manteca City Council last week retained Caltrop Corp. for $123,832 to provide construction management services. The firm of George Reed has already been awarded the actual $1.6 million construction contract.

The management firm is doing work that the city is not staffed to do. They will also assure the project stays on time so as not to jeopardize funding. All of the money for the non-pavement rehab portion of the project is coming from the state and can only be used on beautification and bicycling enhancement projects. An additional $180,000 in Measure K funds will be used to replace failing sections of pavement.

The work will take place between Main Street and Airport Way.

The project also includes:

seal slurry work and stripping.

installing missing sidewalk segments.

replacing non-compliant wheelchair ramps.