South Main Street could become a 104-foot wide street from a point just south of Atherton Drive to Sedan Avenue within a few years under an agreement reached by the City of Manteca and developers of the 1,301-home Griffin Park.

Typically the city only requires builders to improve part of major streets that border the property they are developing. But in the case of Griffin Park three developers with Manteca roots — Raymus Homes, Manteca Development Group, and Atherton Homes — worked with the city in a bid to get the entire roadway widen to its ultimate configuration of 104 feet plus widen other  sections of the corridor not bordering their property.

During Tuesday’s City Council meeting that gave the project its final approval needed to move forward, the developers volunteered to have another condition added to the project after current residents living along Tinnin Road expressed frustration traffic from Griffin Park would further deteriorate a segment of the road between the project and Woodward Avenue that is within the jurisdiction of San Joaquin County.  The condition the developers added will require them to repave Tinnin Road from Griffin Park to Woodward Avenue.

The potential for South Main Street to go in as a 104-foot wide street before development occurs on both sides of the corridor is a departure from past practice. That has led to bottlenecks or squeezes in various locations on major streets throughout the city that took years to be widened. There are a number of instances where streets still haven’t been widened such as on Louise Avenue between Main Street and the Highway 99 overpass.

When the first phase of Griffin Park gets underway and assuming right-of-way from adjoining properties are obtained, South Main Street will be widen enough to accommodate four lanes with a 14-foot wide landscaped median from South Main to Sedan Avenue. The only things that won’t go in on the far west side are improvements beyond curb and gutter meaning sidewalks and landscaping. They won’t go in until adjoining land is developed.

A roundabout large enough to accommodate two lanes of traffic entering from each direction will be built at the future intersection of South Main and the Raymus Expressway.

In addition, the developers in a future phase assuming right-of-way is secured will widen South Main Street to accommodate four lanes from Woodward Avenue north to a point just south of Atherton Avenue where the southernmost part of a proposed shopping center that at one time SaveMart was going to anchor is located.

The city’s game plan is to have the developer of the shopping center when it is built finish widening South Main Street to Atherton Drive.

The city has no plans to widen South Main Street from Atherton Drive to the freeway overcrossing until such time as land is developed so the cost of the work would be on the dime of developers. Also there is no city project being fashioned to move forward with widening South Main Street over the 120 Bypass. If the city ultimately went with a diverging diamond design as they are at Union Road that can cost upwards of $10 million less than a typical interchange the city would still have to come up with $28 million in today’s dollars to build it.

The city at some point in the coming years will use growth fees to install traffic signals at Woodward Avenue and Atherton Drive.

The city is also requiring a roundabout to be built on Tinnin Road and the future intersection with the envisioned Raymus Parkway.

Developer Bill Filios indicated construction drawings will start on the first of five distinct villages planned in Griffin Park in the next few months.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com