The latest effort to make Manteca’s streets safer will be bringing traffic on Moffat Boulevard to a stop at Powers Avenue.

City crews have started the process of converting that intersection into a three-way stop.

Manteca recently installed two street lights at the intersection that has been shrouded in the dark ever since 1951 when Ed Powers build the city’ first modern housing tract east of Manteca High and punched his namesake street through to what was then Highway 99.

Not only will it make it safer for pedestrians using the crosswalk, but it will help illuminate the stop signs that will also be bordered with flashing red LED lights.

High profile crosswalks will be put in place across Powers as well as across Moffat on the west side of the intersection. No crosswalk is going on the east side as there are no curb cuts.

A right turn lane from westbound Moffat to Powers will be added.

There will be some shifting of travel lanes along Moffat as well as bike lanes added.

The intersection is problematic due to a curve on Moffat west of Powers and the fact the speed limit is kicked up to 45 mph once westbound traffic passes Powers.

It will mean what is currently one of the two longest stretches of roadway of a mile or more in developed sections of Manteca that function as an arterial without stop signs or traffic signals to disrupt traffic flow will be eliminated.

Speeding on Moffat has been an issue for decades.

The reorientation of Manteca High to Moffat plus increased use of the roadway as a way to downtown and beyond from southeast neighborhoods has increased safety issues.

Manteca last month activated a high intensity pedestrian crossing signal known as a HAWK signal in front of Manteca High at Garfield Avenue and Moffat.

It is the same style of pedestrian signal as the one at North Main Street and Edison Street.

Moffat, with speed limits in excess of 30 mph as well as its arterial function, cannot have speed lumps under state law.

Work on Spreckels

is coming next

City crews later this month, will be completing work on the enhanced sidewalk crossing on Spreckels Avenue at Norman Drive.

The city earlier this year put in place a safety island in the middle of the four-lane arterial.

The standard pedestrian flashers mounted on signs that are activated by a push button will be installed.

They are using the repurposed signage and flashes removed to make way for the HAWK signal on Moffat.

A high profile crosswalk will also be put in place.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com