Two miles of West Ripon Road between Austin Road and the Ripon city limits is being resurfaced.

It is a segment of the de facto “third” or middle route for commuters to travel to and from jobs in Tracy and the Bay Area from Stanislaus County.

West Ripon Road is among the rural roads in the South County that has seen a significant uptick in traffic from commuters seeking to avoid traffic tie ups on the 120 Bypass and much of Interstate 205.

There are only three river crossings of the San Joaquin River for commuters from Modesto and Stanislaus County. They are Highway 120, Interstate 5 via the 120 Bypass and Airport Way.

The two state highways are 18 miles apart.

The middle route via the Airport Way bridge sends traffic through rural areas of Tracy, Manteca, and Ripon as well as the City of Ripon during both the morning and evening commutes. It is the reason for a large number of traffic issues in Ripon as commuters have to cut through the city to travel to or from Highway 99 via Main Street of Jack Tone Road.

While the segment of West Ripon Road is in need of resurfacing it will likely make it more enticing for more commuters to use as well as encourage faster traffic movement.

Faster speeds are what happened last year when Trahren Road in rural south Manteca was resurfaced. Trahern is part of the West Ripon, South Manteca Road, Trahren Road, Airport Way segment of the “middle route” that passes through South San Joaquin County and connects with Durham Ferry Road and Kasson Road.

Kasson Road accesses a large cluster of distribution centers on Tracy’s east side that are anchored by Amazon. Durham Ferry Road connects with South Chrisman Road that accesses Highway 132 just at it merges with Interstate 580.

That allows commuters to reach the business parks with distribution centers such as Safeway, Costco, and a second Amazon facility of Tracy’s west side. It also allows commuters heading to the Bay Area to avoid the I-205/120 Bypass congestion.

The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors Tuesday is expected to award the West Ripon Road project to Knife River Construction. The firm submitted a low bid of $779,699.

Work is tentatively scheduled to start in April. It will take 20 working days to complete.

Traffic delays and inconveniences to the motoring public are expected to be minimal.

Given there is a concern that threatened or endangered species such as the Swainson’s Hawk might have nests in the area a biological survey will first be conducted. If nests are found it could delay the start of work.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com