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DO YOU KNOW THE WAY TO MANTECA?
Singh advocates ACE station relocation for possible reverse vacation commute from San Jose, Bay Area
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Altamont Corridor Express is considering relocating the Lathrop-Manteca station on West Yosemite Avenue roughly a half mile south to McKinley Avenue. - photo by FRANCISCO TOLEDO/The Bulletin

The day may come when families could catch an Altamont Corridor Express train in downtown San Jose to reach a vacation destination in Manteca by simply walking across the street from the Lathrop-Manteca station.
Manteca Councilman Gary Singh believes Manteca needs to work with the San Joaquin Rail Commission and allied jurisdictions to help make that a possibility.
He noted that Great Wolf alone expects to attract 500,000 guests a year with the bulk coming from the Bay Area. That is in addition to whatever draw other attractions that may be built nearby may have.
Singh’s remarks came last week after the council’s approval of agreements designed to set in motion groundbreaking this summer for a 500-room Great Wolf hotel and indoor waterpark resort as part of the city’s 220-acre family entertainment being created along the extension of Daniels Street to McKinley Avenue. The extension is going forward as part of the deal that brings Great Wolf to Manteca.
ACE has indicated it is working toward a reverse commute that would initially bring at least one east bound train in the morning from San Jose to Stockton and a return train in the late afternoon. The commuter rail line is already gearing up to add Saturday service with funding it is receiving from Senate Bill 1.
Critical to making Singh’s scenario work is ACE opting to proceed with a proposal to relocate the Lathrop-Manteca station now on West Yosemite Avenue across the street from the wastewater treatment plant about a half mile to the south on city-owned property that is part of the FEZ.
Such a move would put the station directly across from a massive job center being pursued by Crow Holdings, a major business park developer that has just purchased Lathrop Gateway with entitlements to build 5 million square feet of buildings.
Relocating the station would also move it closer to existing and future housing as well as place it within a quarter mile of the 120 Bypass with the McKinley Avenue interchange targeted to break ground in 2019. It would make the station the highest visible and easiest accessed in terms of freeway traffic. It would also allow for a significant expansion of parking space.
The current station is about a mile from either existing or planned neighborhoods in Manteca and more than two miles from the closest residential area in Lathrop. It is essentially surrounded by a small business park, Sunnyvalley Meats and the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
By contrast the proposed location would be within a short walking distance of the FEZ that is essentially envisioned as a social, cultural and recreation hub in the same vein as vibrant downtowns and creations such as San Jose’s Santana Row.
Manteca is lobbying for the station shift as part of the effort that will extend ACE service into downtown Manteca as well as Ripon, Modesto, and Ceres by 2023 with $400 million that was included in the gas tax increase passed in 2017. It will also include a bus bridge to Turlock, Livingston and Merced until such time the second phase of extending rail service to Merced is completed.
The initial extension project would require a new connection between the Union Pacific’s Oakland and Fresno subdivisions. Currently tracks for the two railroad subdivisions cross west of Airport Way about a third of a mile south of Lathrop Road and two thirds of a mile north of Louise Avenue. Although the initial release from ACE about the project doesn’t specify exactly where that new connection will be made the logical location would be in the area north of the Manteca Unified district office complex.
If the Lathrop-Manteca station is relocated it gives Manteca two solid opportunities to enhance in-town transit services as well as develop as a hub for out-of-town commuters primarily from the east toward Escalon and the foothills to access the rail system.