How can Manteca make walking and bicycling in Manteca safer?

 You can let the city known by accessing an online interactive map and marking it with your suggestions.

It is part of the initial effort of a year-long exercise by the City of Manteca to develop an Active Transportation Plan that will serve as a comprehensive guide to create a vision for trails, bike lanes, and sidewalks within the city and connecting to nearby destinations.

The map is accessible by going to the city’s website at www.ci.manteca.ca.us, going to “Departments” in the header and scrolling down to and clicking on “Community Development”, then click on “Planning Department” on the left side of the page. Specific planning divisions will pop up including “Active Transportation Plan” which is where you will find the interact map.

Already residents have indicated their desire to see a crosswalk on Moffat Boulevard near Manteca High, improving safety at the intersection of Louise Avenue and Zurich Drive, plus improving safety on Airport Way at the Union Pacific Railroad crossing.

The interactive map allows you to indicate where you would like to see the following items added: crosswalks, sidewalks, on-street bike lanes, protected or separated bikeway or bike paths, walking trails, and bicycle parking. You can also use icons to show spots that you’d like to see made safer, indicate where you believe the city needs to address upkeep issues, or add your own idea. Instructions show you how to add icons to indicate what you would like to see. It also is designed to allow you to leave comments.

Eventually you will have a chance to vote for suggested facilities when the undertaking reaches that point.

The data will also be used to update the city’s bicycle master plan that was adopted in 2003. The prime feature of the bike plan was developing a separated bike path loop of the city using the 3.4-mile Tidewater Bike Way as the backbone. To the south the bike path runs along Industrial Park Drive, then south on Van Ryn Avenue before connecting to Atherton Drive. A spur runs to the east and curves south to Woodward Avenue. The 2003 plan envisioned that the spur might eventually connect to Ripon’s bicycle system. The loop has various segments in place along Atherton Drive. It was then envisioned to go north under McKinley Avenue and run along the east side of the French Camp drain. At a point north of Lathrop Road it was envisioned to turn east to connect with an existing bike path that runs through Del Webb at Woodridge and into Union Ranch. On the east side of Union Ranch the bike path turns south to Lathrop Road to complete the loop.

The goal is to promote “human-powered” travel such as walking and bicycling and making it easier for those in wheelchairs to get around Manteca. The plan strives to connect neighborhoods to schools, parks, employment centers, restaurants, stores, bus stops, and even ACE train stations.

The next few months will be spent in community outreach including separate meetings that have yet to be scheduled in September for bicycling and one for walking. The bicycling workshop will include a bike tour of various bike facilities in Manteca and a discussion on how bicycling can be improved in Manteca.

The walking workshop will include a walking tour around and near downtown. It will note successful pedestrian improvements and features plus how Manteca can improve the lot of pedestrians.

There will be a booth at the Pumpkin Fair the first weekend in October where you can mark maps with improvements you’d like to see.

A draft plan is expected by the spring of 2020, a final plan and public presentation by the fall of 2020. The council would then consider the plan.

Associate Planner Adam Paszkowski is in charge of the project. He can be contacted at apaszkowski@ci.manteca.ca.us or by calling 209-456-8523.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com