Accidents involving bicyclists as well as pedestrians have tripled in recent years while the number of motor vehicle accidents has doubled on Manteca city streets.

Those trends were the driving force behind the development of an Active Transportation Plan. The $240,000 Measure K funded plan developed over the last year by Fehr and Peers with community input is being reviewed by the Manteca Planning Commission for potential inclusion in the city’s general plan serves as the blueprint for growth.

The commission is meeting remotely at 7 o’clock tonight. The meeting can be viewed on the city’s website.

The plan identifies the needs for $35 million in sidewalk improvements, $23 million in bike lanes and bike routes, and $3.3 million worth of intersection improvements in developed areas of Manteca. That comes to $61 million.

Of that $12.1 million worth of sidewalk work is deemed a high priority, as is $5.7 million of bicycle related upgrades and $1.2 million worth of intersection improvements.

Many of the identified upgrades can be funded when adjoining vacant land develops such as extending separated bike paths along Atherton Drive and sidewalks along Woodward Avenue.

Priority projects involve Union Road, Center Street, the area around Sequoia Elementary School, Yosemite Avenue and the Edison Street/Main Street intersection.

The fact Manteca will have an active transportation fund will make it easier to go after federal, state, and Measure K funding needed to implement improvements.

The state gas tax as well as the countywide Measure K half cent transportation sales tax each require a certain percentage of what is collected must go toward bicycle and pedestrian projects,

The plan analyzed accident patterns as well as development patterns that would allow more people to bicycle or walk if they were safely accommodated.

The accident data was taken from a 10-year period between 2008 and 2017. During that time period there were 1,697 vehicle collisions (on city streets and not the 120 Bypass or Highway 99) that killed 38 people and left 88 people with severe injuries.

There were 111 collisions involving pedestrians with 9 fatalities and 16 severe injuries as well as 105 collisions involving bicycles with 3 fatalities and 10 injuries.

The year 2011 saw collisions involving pedestrians peak at 24 and then drop the next year to seven followed by two years of one annually before tallying 6 in 2015. They then more than tripled to 19 in 2016 followed by 18 in 2017.

Bicycle collisions followed almost the same pattern. They peaked at 17 in 2008 and stayed in double digits through 2012 before dropping to zero in both 2013 and 2014 before five were recorded in 2015. They then more than tripled in 2017 to 16 with 2017 seeing 15.

Motor vehicle accidents experienced a similar pattern. They reached 191 in 2008 and ranged from 136 to 184 annually over the next four years. They then dropped to 87 in 2013 and 96 in 2014 before entering triple digits again in 2015 with 135. They then more than doubled to 278 in 2016. Motor vehicle collisions numbered 261 in 2017.

Five people, on average die every year in a collision of some type on city streets. At the same time an average of 11.4 people a year sustain serious injuries.