The reorientation of Manteca High’s front entrance to Moffat Boulevard could bring three-way stop signs and even roundabouts to the former Highway 99 corridor.

The City of Manteca and Manteca Unified School District are working together to identify safety, congestion, and traffic flow issues on Moffat, vet possible solutions, and then adopt an implementation plan and strategy

Driving the conversations are:

*The shifting of major access to the campus to Moffat.

*Modernization and growth work underway that will generate at least a 25 percent increase in traffic generated at the campus as it goes from the current 1,800 enrollment to 2,200 to accommodate new student growth in southeast Manteca.

*The fact Moffat for the course of a mile has no stop signs or traffic signals, is wide and serves as both a connector street and bypass for East Yosemite Avenue creating conditions conducive to drivers pushing or exceeding the posted speed limit.

*The return of ACE trains starting in 2023 to the Manteca Transit Center based on current scheduling at the Lathrop-Manteca station will start arriving after school lets out at 4 p.m. but as after-school sporting events and other activities that draw the community occur.

Victoria Brunn, chief business and information officer for the Manteca Unified School District, noted the City of Manteca has been an effective partner at working to enhance student safety both on the campus and nearby streets.

“They made it possible to allow us to connect and secure the campus on Garfield Avenue and continue to work with us to do so,” Brunn said.

She is referencing the city’s decision to allow the district to incorporate Garfield Avenue between Mikesell Avenue and a point near the baseball field as part of the campus while making sure easement for public utilities are accessible.

That allowed for the district to use wrought iron fencing to secure the area that was redone to include an expansive promenade/student plaza. It means students can now walk to and from more than a dozen classrooms — with more to be added — east of Garfield Avenue.

In the past the general public could walk through the middle of campus during the school day while students had to cross a public street. It led to several incidents where homeless — including a man carrying a long sheathed knife — were intermingling with students during the school day.
The city also added high profile crosswalks on Yosemite Avenue as well as Moffat Boulevard adjacent the campus.

Potential changes at the Garfield and Sherman avenues’ intersections with Moffat include:

*Banning left turns onto Moffat.

*Creating three-way intersections.

*Installing roundabouts.

The two streets connect with Moffat at odd angles significantly compromising sightlines of oncoming Moffat traffic heading to the southeast.

If the roundabout option is advanced, it won’t be too problematic to implement. That’s because the city owns land on the southside of the street that would allow a roundabout to shift to the south.

The city could also ponder a roundabout option further down Moffat where they are exploring making it a three-way stop with Powers Avenue to slow traffic and mitigate a somewhat blind curve to the west of the intersection. The city also owns land to the south of that intersection as well.

The city and school district are also looking at potential no-parking zones on Moffat in front of the campus and across the street as well as on part of the segments approaching the Sherman and Garfield intersections.

That’s because they are mindful of a student that was severely injured a few years back crossing the street where a parked semi-truck compromised the sightline of both the student and the driver involved in the accident.

In doing so it would force those bringing students to school to use a specifically designed drop off zone on Buffalo Way — the name the City Council bestowed on the chunk of Garfield Avenue that was disconnected from the rest of the street more than a year ago to mark the high school’s centennial.

There will be a cul-de-sac at the end of Buffalo Way right in front of the new main entrance. Drivers will exit back onto Moffat. Buffalo Way will also access the student parking lot being expanded by 60 stalls this summer with the removal of the Pacific Motel.

Buses will use Buffalo Way and then turn into a “buses only” drop off zone in near the new gym.

The buses will then exit onto Sherman Avenue where there will be parking restriction to assure visibility lines.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com