It may soon be legal to “speed” on Cottage Avenue and Atherton Drive based on current posted speed limits.

That’s because if the Manteca City Council wants police to continue enforcing speed limits by the most reliable and safest manner by using radar they have to readjust speeds based on a just completed survey. State law mandates the speed be adjusted to reflect the travel of the 85th percentile of the vehicles caught on radar during an engineering and traffic survey. The state requires such a survey to be conducted every seven years.

That survey conducted earlier this year shows that 28 segments of streets in Manteca where radar is used must have their speed limits increased or else police must stop radar enforcement.

The council doesn’t have to increase the posted speed limit. However, that means courts won’t recognize any ticket issued for speeding on  streets based on radar enforcement. That would mean the only real way to enforce speeding is to have a police unit pace an offending vehicle for a set amount of time.

The City Council will conduct a public hearing on the proposed new speed limits when they meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.

Six segments of streets would have to have their current posted speed limits raised by 10 mph in order for tickets written by using radar to stand in court.

The road sections and the proposed new speed limits that will be at least 10 mph faster than they are now are:

35 mph

• Winters Drive from Yosemite Avenue to Wawona

40 mph

• Cottage Avenue from Louise Avenue to Highway 99

45 mph

• Atherton Drive, Woodward to Van Ryn

• Atherton Drive, Van Ryn to Main

• Atherton Drive, Main to Union

• Atherton Drive, Sparrowhawk to Heartsong



Another 22 street segments are proposed to have their speed increased by 5 mph. They are:

50 mph

• Woodward Avenue, McKinley to S. Airport

• McKinley Avenue, 120 Bypass  to Woodward

45 mph

• Airport Way, Daisywood to Union Pacific Railroad

• Airport Way, Union Pacific Railroad to Crom

• Austin Road, 1,500 feet north of Yosemite to 1,350 feet south of Louise

• Main Street, Woodward to South City Limit

40 mph

•  Button Avenue, Cottage to Yosemite

• Louise Avenue, Garden Gate to Main

• Louise Avenue, Main to Union

• Main Street, Lathrop to Alameda

• Moffat Boulevard, Powers to Main

• Spreckels Avenue, Yosemite to Moffat

• Union Road, Lathrop to Louise

• Union Road, Louise to Center

35 mph

• Crom Street, Union to Airport

• Daniels Street, Airport to west end

• Fishback Road, Yosemite to Wawona

30 mph

• Daisywood Drive, Riverberry to Airport

• Main Street, Alameda to Wetmore

• North Street, Main to Elm

• Pestana Avenue, Louise to Yosemite

• Thomas Street, Winters to Fishback