It is not your imagination.

There is a lot of road work going on in Manteca.

“We’re trying to do as much of it as we can, although a number (of projects) are developer driven,” noted Councilman Charlie Halford.

If you eliminate any work that doesn’t carry a price tag of at least $1 million, there are currently 11 major road-related projects underway.

That has many people frustrated with more than a few asking why the work can’t all be done at night such as on South Main Street between Atherton Drive and Woodward Avenue.

Halford noted it’s a matter of temperature and being fiscally prudent.

Night work for road construction has differential pay that makes projects more expensive.

The South Main widening and infrastructure work tied to the shopping center being built that will be anchored by a Save Mart supermarket is developer driven. That means they opted for night work at their added expensive to avoid a major inconvenience in the area.

As for the temperature part, it has to be 55 degrees and rising for the proper application of asphalt.

Halford noted the city tries to coordinate major paving projects to reduce inconveniences when  possible.

Such was the case with the  neighborhood paving projects in the Wawona Street and Shasta Park areas. Both are in areas with elementary schools. The city opted to require the contractor to do paving this past week as it coincided with the Manteca Unified fall break.

The overall cost of the 11 projects — including related infrastructure — is in excess of $85 million.

The biggest by far is adding the transition lane from the eastbound 120 Bypass to southbound Highway 99 as well as the replacement of the Austin Road interchange.

It  is a San Joaquin Council of Governments project that was the result of a regional campaign led by Manteca leaders to address the torniquet on traffic at the Highway 99/120 Bypass interchange.

The other seven projects include:

*The median work, paving and related improvements on North Main Street between Alameda Street and Northgate Drive.

*A citywide endeavor to modernize traffic signals and to synchronize them for improved traffic flow management.

*Widening a segment of Airport Way north of Yosemite Avenue.

*The realignment and widening of Woodward Avenue to four lanes between Atherton Drive and Moffat Drive.

*Widening Austin Road between Yosemite Avenue and Graves Road.

*Adding a roundabout and widening part of South Main Street between Woodward Avenue and Sedan Avenue.

*Safe Routes to School work around and near six campuses include Manteca High and Sierra High.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com