Rural residents — irked that a traffic consultant has determined a proposed 814-home subdivision on Austin Road will have “less than significant” impacts — are pushing back.

They have been pressing City Council members to reject the Yosemite Square project sandwiched between Austin Road and Highway 99 north of Graves Road and backing up to the El Rancho Mobile Home Park.

They take exception to the subdivision having only two ways in and out of the neighborhood with both streets in close proximity to each other on Austin Road to accommodate 7,741 more vehicle trips a day.

But a bigger issue they believe for the overall Manteca community as well as travelers on East Highway 120 is the fact Caltrans is within months of removing the southbound off-ramp and northbound on-ramp onto Austin Road along Highway 99 for a minimum of 10 years.

They won’t be restored under funding is available for the third phase of the $154 million upgrade of the 120 Bypass-Highway 99-Austin Road interchanges.

The first phase will break ground in early 2023. The second phase is expected to start within three years after that providing the state can secure funding. There is no timeline for the third phase due to funding issues although the state has indicated the third phase construction won’t start until at least 10 years after the first phase gets underway.

If the indeed happens, it means the ramps won’t be back in place and operating until 2035.

That means almost every vehicle from those 814 homes will access Yosemite Square using East Yosemite Avenue between Highway 99 and Austin Road.

That intersection is heavily congested during commute hours and on late Friday afternoons and evenings as well as most Sunday afternoons and evenings from people going to and from the Sierra.

Based on current employment trends of newcomers to Manteca, as many of 90 percent of the future homeowners will work to the west either in Tracy or over the Altamont Pass in the Bay Area.

That means in order to access the freeway to get to work and to return home, they would need to go down East Yosemite to Highway 99 or else take a circuitous route through South Manteca neighborhoods to reach the 120 Bypass via Union Road, Airport Way, or Main Street.

For trips for shopping, accessing community venues, or traveling to schools the traffic would also be pushed down the same corridors.

Fehr & Peers — the traffic consultant that said Chick-fil-A would cause no traffic issues — has determined the traffic impact of Yosemite Square “will be less than significant.”

They base that on the current  smaller project not having office uses and having somewhat less housing than the original Yosemite Square project floated over a decade ago.

The original project would have generated up to 14,561  daily vehicle trips. That much larger project included office buildings along the freeway to accommodate up to 3,000 regional white collar jobs, commercial on the corner of East Highway 120 and Austin Road as well as the holistic approach to widening Austin Road to four lanes.

The new project will generate 7,741 vehicle trips daily — not including Amazon style delivery vans — with the peak PM hour dumping 765 more cars an hour on Austin Road.

It is less than significant compared to uses previously proposed. However, the previous developers intended to widen Austin Road all the way to East Highway 120 and make improvements to that intersection as well.

The current developer only plans to widen Austin Road where to borders their project.

Widening Austin Road is not in the city’s growth fee plan for funding. Worst yet, Yosemite Square will create an impact that won’t be addressed until decades later assuming  piecemeal development occurs along Austin Road as is happening along Airport Way.

It also will not be cheap to relocate the transmission lines PG&E has in place.  

Then there is the issue of truck routes.

Austin Road should be a truck route today based on existing use.

It also needs that designation because it would take truck traffic heading toward Oakdale and Sonora from the south and vice versa off of the already heavily congested East Yosemite Avenue at Austin being a bypass connecter between Highway 99 and East Highway 120.

Traffic consultants indicated at the planning commission meeting they are only required to address the project’s impact on traffic.

If that is the case, the traffic data for East Yosemite-Austin Road doesn’t reflect the removal of the Austin Road ramps.

The council will consider the project when they meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com