Manteca Police Chief Jodie Estarziau said officers aren’t ignoring trucks going down streets that they can’t legally use.

It’s just that they are concentrating on more serious safety violations such as vehicles running red lights and stop signs.

“There are so many other violations occurring that it is not a priority,” the police chief said

That said the City Council last week made it clear they want citations issued to get truckers to comply with the rules. They asked staff to bring the issue back to the council at a future meeting. 

“I think we need to take the roads back,” said Mayor Ben Cantu. “It’s basically a free for all out there. I’ve seen trucks on residential streets, taking out signal lights and stop signs.”

Councilman Gary Singh noted several days before the council meeting he was in Lathrop and noticed police services in that community had pulled over three trucks that couldn’t legally be on Lathrop Road due to their length.

Community Development Director Greg Showerman noted there are only three legal truck routes in Manteca — Moffat Boulevard, Lathrop Road, and Yosemite Avenue from Highway 99 to Spreckels Avenue/Industrial Park Drive to South Main to the 120 Bypass. The last route is the only one that is a STAA route that longer trucks are allowed to use. 

The law does not preclude trucks from driving on other city streets if they are making a delivery or a pickup.

Public Works Director Mark Houghton said traffic signals are routinely damaged by trucks making turns.

After the meeting several council members expressed concerns about where trucks are parking. They said a number of trucks have been parking on Moffat Boulevard near crosswalks that are used heavily by students walking to and from Manteca High. The high profile of the parked trucks severely reduces the sight line for pedestrians and other drivers.

It is not illegal to park on that segment of Moffat. The city has signs by the transit center banning vehicles six feet or higher from parking along Moffat due to safety issue for turning out of the parking lot. All parking is banned along Moffat by the storm retention basin. The city has also posted no-parking signs in the dirt area between Moffat and the railroad tracks from Spreckels Avenue to the 120 Bypass overcrossing.

The police chief said the department was waiting on the truck route study being completed to determine a course of action. The truck route won’t address truck parking per se but trucks are allowed to park along truck routes unless it is otherwise posted.

Trucks not making deliveries routinely park on Main Street south of the 120 Bypass and on Airport Way on both sides of the freeway including areas that the city has posted as no parking zones for all vehicles from Daniels Street to Yosemite Avenue.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com