To close or not to close access to Austin Road from Highway 99.
That is the question for Manteca City Councilman Mike Morowit.
At an informational meeting at the Manteca Transit Center Wednesday night about the proposed Highway 99 and the 120 Bypass interchange overhaul – a project that could cost as much as $80 million and would alleviate much of the daily bottleneck that frustrates drivers and creates unsafe conditions – Morowit said that while he’s in favor of the project and its congestion implications, the thought of cutting off access to Austin Road, even temporarily, doesn’t sit well with him.
And his reasoning is very much a matter of life and death.
With the City of Manteca planning on opening its fifth fire station at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Atherton Drive, Morowit said that his concern about one of the two existing proposals – which would add lanes on both Highway 99 and the 120 Bypass but close the on and offramps at Austin Road. It rests in the fact that it would eliminate the possibility that Manteca firefighters could render mutual aid to Ripon if called, and it would increase the response times for Ripon engines if they were called to render aid in Manteca.
While the completed project that allows for access at Austin Road is more than 25 percent more expensive – coming in at more than $80 million – Morowit said that he can’t get behind a proposal that would severely alter the traffic patterns for emergency vehicle and push more cars onto Manteca surface streets that weren’t designed to accommodate those flows.
“I’m not against the project, but I’m against the closure aspect of the project,” he said. “I think we should build it and we need it, but there’s a lot we need to look at when we start talking about cutting off access to Austin Road.”
According to Caltrans, the new project would allow for twice as many vehicles to navigate the transition in both directions in an attempt to cut down on the daily backups that occur for vehicles heading westbound on Highway 99 and in the morning and southbound in the afternoon – peak commute hours. The current proposal, as listed on the Caltrans website, calls for a phased implementation of the project that would overhaul the transition between the two highways initially, but close Austin Road and not provide alternatives until the second phase of the project is completed.
The first phase, as proposed, would cost $50.8 million and would come from a combination of State and Federal money as well as local proceeds from the Measure K transportation sales tax increase that voters just recently extended for another three decades.
The environmental review process is expected to take roughly one year from when it begins. The design and the land acquisition process would begin shortly thereafter. If the project gets the green light from the California Transportation Commission, and all targets are met, construction for the first phase would begin in the fall of 2021 and take two years to complete.
John Ang, who lives off of Woodward Avenue, said that he would like to see a better plan for how the project prevents traffic backup on roadways near the interchange that can often snarl traffic by as much 20 minutes in the morning when commuters are rushing to get to work.
In addition to rail concerns, Ang said that he’s concerned that the project could create more surface street traffic during construction, and make things more difficult for people who live in the area.
“My wife is a commuter so I understand the need to move this level of traffic, but I think the project could be better,” he said. “If there’s a train in the morning you get stuck there for a while because there are so many vehicles, and I would like to see a way that could be addressed.”
According to traffic predictions compiled by engineers for the design firm hired by Caltrans, Austin Road could become the most heavily-traveled arterial roadway south of the Highway 120 Bypass once all of the development already approved by the council is completed. By 2040, according to estimates, Austin Road could have as many as 42,000 vehicles a day passing between the existing freeway exit and Sedan Avenue. If the complete option proposed for the freeway alignment, which would still allow access to Austin Road through a series of dedicated flyovers, were built that number of daily vehicles would be cut to 35,000 – more than five times as many that are predicted to be traveling on Woodward Avenue and Atherton Way.
A future public meeting has not yet been scheduled, but are typically held roughly six months before the design process begins.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.