BY THE NUMBERS
• 191: Miles of streets in Manteca
• 6,000: The number of car trips to equal the wear and tear of one truck trip on a typical residential street.
• 275: The temperate in degrees of asphalt when it is first applied to a street.
• 456-8400: The number to call to report a pothole or street maintenance problem in Manteca.
The three-word theme for Manteca this summer: Road work ahead.
Caltrans as well as the City of Manteca have shifted into overdrive with road construction and maintenance projects since the unusually long rainy season ended.
Caltrans has the most high profile work underway along the six-mile long 120 Bypass between Highway 99 and Interstate 5. It is being prepared for an asphalt overlay.
“This type of project preserves the pavement and retards future deterioration and is typically applied to pavement in good condition having significant remaining service life,” noted Zelie Nogueira, Caltrans District 10 chief executive of the services branch in an e-mail. “The bypass was built using concrete slabs with an asphalt overlay. Concrete is used due to its durability and because it lasts longer than other forms of pavement. The addition of an asphalt overlay protects the concrete and increases the life of the pavement.”
The pavement overlay’s effectiveness is between 10 and 15 years. Given the cost of replacing six miles of a four-lane freeway at a cost some experts peg at $61.8 million, the overlay is a bargain.
Some 78,000 vehicles a day use the 120 Bypass.
Caltrans is also doing a pavement overlay of East Highway 120 between Jack Tone Road and the Stanislaus County line.
Manteca will spend more than $5.5 million this year on road work. That major overlay work on East Yosemite Avenue between Cottage Avenue and Commerce Drive, West Yosemite Avenue from Walnut Street to Winters Drive, Moffat Boulevard, and 28 lane miles of seal slurry on neighborhood streets. The biggest item is $2.9 million to extend Atherton Drive from South Main Street to Wellington Avenue. Work will start Sept. 1.
A survey of city streets in 2009 shows that the 191 total centerline miles of municipal roadways have a pavement condition index of 75. That means, on average, they’ve got 75 percent of their life expectancy left. That compares to the Bay Area average of 70 percent. Manteca’s better position has a lot to do with the fact most roads here are newer.
Manteca is now spending an average of $500,000 a year on road maintenance projects. But the pavement management study shows that amount needs to be kicked up to $1.3 million annually each year to maintain the current level of quality.
The study showed that the existing 191 miles of Manteca roads have a replacement value of $79.8 million.
