All trucks movements are not equal.

The growing clamor to address growing issues surrounding truck issues in Manteca often intermingle one type of truck movement with another to provide cover for parking that has always been illegal.

In a nutshell there are three truck movements that pose issues for the city:

*Trucks going  to and from distribution centers and industrial uses.

*Trucks going off established truck routes that are not making deliveries to commercial or even residential locations.

*Trucks en route to locations whose drivers are required by federal law to take rest or sleep breaks.

Each of those three categories offer sub issues such as illegal truck parking in neighborhoods.

And rest assured this is not a one sided coin when it comes to questioning whether Manteca has done — or is doing — it’s job.

Truckers have legitimate issues as well.

*The city approving heavy truck use projects that aren’t on established and marked truck routes.

*Truck routes where there are inadequate turn radius locations from trucks to make turns — primarily to the right — without going over the center line or going over curbs and clipping signs, traffic signals and even street lights.

*The lack of city zoning and policies to encourage more commercial truck parking lots and even truck stops in locations that make sense.

Besides truck being critical to the movement of all goods — including those bought by consumers — they are a vital part of the regional economy whether it is the agriculture, distributions, long-range hauling, or industrial.

South San Joaquin County is not only a centralized location in the Northern California Metroplex of 18 million consumers within 100 miles but it has the logistics transportation system to support it including freeways, an airport and seaport in Stockton, and two major intermodal yards — the Union Pacific sandwiched between Manteca and Lathrop as well as the Santa Fe less than 10 miles northwest of downtown Manteca.

More and more freight being moved long distances are going by intermodal rail. It moves significantly more freight cross country at significantly lower fuel and cost while reducing air pollution. And unlike traditional rail freight, it doesn’t have be unloaded from a box car and reloaded on a truck.

Instead truck trailers are loaded on specially designed flatbed cars. They reach intermodal yards by truck and they are taken from intermodal yards to their final designations by truck.

Trucks going tp as well as

from distribution centers

Truck routes are designed to make sure trucks have a route to and from distribution centers and such that can accommodate their movements and not travel where the streets and zoning uses aren’t designed for them.

This also has other impacts of which the biggest is the deterioration of streets.

Truck routes require a more robust base beneath pavement due to significantly higher weight each axleupports. It would be cost prohibitive to build all surface streets to the level they could support the constant movement of trucks.

There are also two types of truck routes: Standard ones for trucks under and STAA routes for  all trucks including longer ones allows under the 1982 Surface Transportation Assistance Act created for efficient movement of goods on the interstate system.

The STAA trucks are typically longer and require more generous turn radiuses. The only STAA route currently in Manteca goes from Highway 99 to the 120 Bypass via Yosemite Avenue, Spreckels Avenue, Industrial Park Drive, and Main Street. It serves the Spreckels and Manteca industrial business parks.

Truckers have had legitimate beefs with the city regarding the STAA route. At one point it wasn’t designated and then it wasn’t properly signed that led to a flurry of tickets issued by the CHP. Then there were turn radius issues that the city finally addressed by going back and moving curbs back from intersection.

At the same time just because an area is a truck route doesn’t mean it is smart for the city not to look at safety concerns and establish universal no parking zones or the restricting vehicles over 6 feet tall from parking as they did when the Manteca Transit Center was built on Moffat Boulevard which is a legal truck route.

It is sightline safety issues  that led to the no parking zone in the south side of Moffat from Austin Road to Industrial Park Drive where tickets will be issued starting Thursday after a week of warnings being issued.

Trucks going off

legal truck routes

Truck cabs being parked in driveways and in city streets with in residential neighborhoods  or commercial area are an example of trucks parking off truck routes.

Not only is a neighborhood designed for people in live in, but the trucks create sighting issues on streets that have a high percentage of children on foot.

They also relentlessly pound pavement not only where they are parked but driving to where they park using non-truck route streets.

Whether the city can get a handle on the situation depends on frequent targeted enforcement that will give Manteca a reputation among the trucking community as a city that the odds are high if you park illegally here you will get a ticket.

The fact the city simply doubled the ticket from $64 to $128 alone won’t work based in what police officers have been told by truckers they’ve ticketed and what police have observed.

Even at $128 if a trucker gets only one ticket a month they are financially ahead of the game as it costs less than parking in a commercial truck yard.

And if police respond simply to complaints, truckers move elsewhere in the city and park illegally.

As such targeted enforcement that isn’t complaint driven is the only way to give the city the reputation needed to effectively discourage illegal truck parking on a large scale.

Truckers parking due

to federal restrictions

on hours driving

This is not a big issue yet in Manteca although truckers trying to solicit sympathy on social media for those truckers parking near freeway interchanges along the 120 Bypass and on Moffat deliberately mislead people that it is.

In the above mentioned cases, they involve rigs parked there on a daily basis.

But occasionally trucks will appear on city streets where the driver is getting some sleep or taking a mandatory break.

Federal law allows truckers to be “on the job for up to 14 hours following 10 hours off duty although they are limited to 11 hours of driving time. There is also a mandatory 30-minute break by the eighth hour they are on the job.

These are normally “through” long-haul truck drivers that take advantage of rest stops along freeways along freeways or will park along off-ramps in non-urban areas.

Occasionally such long-haul drivers will stay off the road after they’ve loaded or unloaded a load at area distribution centers by staying on site until they can legally move again.

On Sunday once such trucker drove off a legal truck route to park in the 1100 block of East Yosemite on private property they did not have permission to use.

In order to reach the location they had to drive over a straight-back curb and sidewalk.

County working to allow

more truck parking yard

The problem of illegal commercial truck parking has mushroomed in the county as well as some cities such as Manteca.

To address the concern, the San Joaquin County Community Development Department is exploring options that would create opportunities for the development of more legal truck parking facilities.

The move to change zoning on qualifying parcels within a half mile radius from interchanges on Highway 99, Interstate 5, Interstate 205 and Interstate 580 is a follow up to a 2017-18 San Joaquin County Grand Jury report that slammed the proliferation of illegal truck parking.

Parcels the county is considering to allow legal truck parking facilities are within a half mile of the Lathrop Road and Austin Road interchanges along Highway 99 in Manteca as well as within a half mile of the Roth Road and Manthey Road interchanges along Interstate 5 in Lathrop.

The county sought to comply with the Grand Jury’s call for stepped up enforcement by hiring an additional code enforcement officer. However, the problem — despite increased ticketing — has gotten worse.

There are three commercial truck parking yards in Manteca and two on the way in Lathrop.

There are three truck stops in Ripon, two in Lathrop, and concern interested in pursuing a truck stop off of Highway 99 along Austin Road.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dqyatt@mantecabulletin.com