California Highway Patrol officers have ceased what one city official termed “poaching” – at least for now – in writing tickets to trucks pulling the largest allowed cargo trailers onto Commerce Drive and DuPont Court in Spreckels Park.

The turn radius on both streets are too narrow for the larger federally allowed tractor trailer lengths that are just slightly longer than the previous maximum allowed.

The City of Manteca has already assured trucking firms and distribution centers within Spreckels Park that they will widen the two intersections on Spreckels Avenue at their cost. The money will come from non-general fund sources. As it stands now, trucks have difficulty turning and clearing other vehicles such as a right turn off Spreckels if there is a vehicle at the stop sign at either of the two streets.

The city has notified the CHP they are designing improvements with the intent to make them as soon as possible. They are also working at getting the corridor that starts at the Highway 120 Bypass and Main Street to Highway 99 and Yosemite Avenue via Yosemite Avenue, Spreckels Avenue, Industrial Park Drive, and Main Street as a designated truck route for the longer tractor trailers.

The CHP legally has the right to enforce traffic laws anywhere in California on public streets. The poaching reference was made to the fact when the CHP writes the ticket, the state gets 100 percent of the fine. If a city or county law enforcement agency s a traffic ticket, almost 90 percent of it goes to the state. Any which way, tickets are a revenue generator for the state, and not local jurisdictions.