An interchange at McKinley Avenue along the 120 Bypass is expected to be in place by the summer of 2023.

That is the date city officials provided Tuesday when Mayor Ben Cantu asked what was delaying the project.

There are just a few issues preventing the city from going to bid and breaking ground on the project that has been in the making for more than a decade.

One of those issues is the need for PG&E to relocate power poles.

Unlike the Union Road/120 Bypass where PG&E had to relocate major transmission lines and declined to split the $3 million tab, the lines involved are distribution lines that serve homes.

The McKinley Avenue interchange is needed for a variety of reasons.

*There are over 3,000 homes already approved in the southwest portion of the city whose residents will jam the Airport Way interchange if McKinley is not built.

*It is expected to serve as a truck route to take much of the truck traffic off Airport Way future business parks will create.

*Given it almost straddles the city limits between Lathrop and Manteca it will be key in moving some of the future traffic from the Lathrop Gateway project now in its initial phase of construction of more than 5 million square feet of business park space. The project is also served by the Yosemite Avenue interchange just east of the 120 Bypass interchange with Interstate 5.

*The interchange needs to be in place as a Caltrans condition for Great Wolf adding 200 more rooms at their 500-roon indoor waterpark resort.

*It is crucial for City of Manteca plans to develop roughly 100 acres of former wastewater treatment plant land into a family entertainment zone bookended by Great Wolf and Big League Dreams.

*It will take some pressure in the short-term off of Airport Way traffic especially that headed for Costco and the Stadium Retail Center.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com