Manteca residents whose lives are impacted by truck movements — and trucks parked in their neighborhoods — are getting a chance to discuss the completed citywide truck route plan before it is submitted to the City Council.
Due to the pandemic that hit California close to a year after the truck route study was initially promised to be completed, you will not be able to comment in person at the workshop set for Wednesday, July 1, at 5 p.m.
Instead a virtual workshop will take place via Zoom. You must register by 5 p.m., Tuesday, June 30, at https://bit.ly/mantecatruckstudy in order to hear the study presented and/or participate in a group discussion.
You can also submit written comments in advance by 4 p.m. on June 30 that — if they are 250 words or less — may be read into the record for others to hear during the virtual workshop. If they aren’t read or they are over 250 words they will just be included in the official record.
Given that the completed truck route study was not posted on the city’s website in advance, any written comments would have to be made without benefit of knowing first what the consulting firm of Fehr & Peers has proposed.
Comments can be emailed to planning@ci.manteca.ca.us or hand delivered to the door drop of the Office of the City Clerk, 1001 W. Center St., by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
There are three current truck routes in Manteca. Two of them — Lathrop Road and Moffat Boulevard — are standard truck routes.
The third truck route — 120 Bypass to South Main to Industrial Park Drive/Spreckels Avenue to Yosemite Avenue to Highway 99 — is a Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) route that allows trucks that exceed California length limits to accommodate interstate trucking.
The truck route plan in addition to identifying the establishment of legal truck routes going forward:
*will discuss the damage to streets caused by truck traffic and may recommend the city establish a truck impact fee to offset maintenance directly related to truck damage to streets. Damage along the Spreckels Avenue corridor — a legal truck route — is one example.
*examined the geometry of intersections of potential truck routes and identified needed improvements to widen or upgrade intersections where necessary.
*examined policies on the local, state, and federal levels that address truck routes.
Truck routes are designed to keep trucks off of city streets where their operation may be problematic. Ideally they steer them away from streets that aren’t designed to take the heavy pounding trucks have on pavement.
Pavement experts using research from the Federal Highway Administration estimate the projected impact on pavement of one fully loaded axle on a big rig truck is equal to more than 1,000 passenger cars. That said trucks pay significantly higher state road and fuel related taxes to pay for pavement work.
The pavement on Spreckels Avenue — one of the heaviest traveled streets for trucks in Manteca — has develop significant pavement issues after 18 years of truck movements. Spreckels Avenue is on the list of streets Manteca will address pavement issues on during the next several years.
Trucks making deliveries to businesses that are not on an established truck route can legally do so on streets not designated as truck routes.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
