Thanks to the development of large warehouse and light industrial projects in the area, the intersection of Louise and McKinley Avenues is poised to see some heavy traffic in the coming years.
And the City of Lathrop is taking steps to ensure that there’s more than enough room for all the trucks and passenger vehicles passing through the light.
Last month the Lathrop City Council approved a consent calendar item to award Associated Engineering Group (AEG) with a contract for $109,330.50 – one of six firms that submitted bids to the city – to do the design work needed to expand the intersection to accommodate future growth in the area.
The firm was evaluated based on previous work history, qualifications, positive references, and their overall understanding of the project requirements, according to the staff report prepared for the item.
Lathrop is currently waiting to spend $400,000 in federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds that were received from the San Joaquin Council of Governments to complete the project. Current work calls for Louise Avenue to be widened, lane configurations to be modified, and an upgraded traffic signal to be installed.
According to the proposal, the proposal will include protected left turn lanes for both eastbound and westbound traffic along Louise Avenue, and exclusive left turn lanes will be added for all directions when the intersection itself is widened to satisfy the Federal Highway Administration’s requirements for a Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) designation that will allow larger tractor-trailers to use that route to access local businesses.
Because the federal CMAQ funding can only be used for construction and the city only had a budget of $50,000 for design services for the project, a budget amendment in the amount of $59,330.50 was proposed that will use available monies from the Gas Tax Fund.
The actual cost of the design work is $95,070 with a 15 percent contingency to bring the total authorized funding for the design component of the project to $109,330.50.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
