Coming next week:  The Manteca  version of Carmageddon.

One of Manteca’s most traveled stretches of pavement – Main Street from Moffat Boulevard to Wetmore Street – will be closed to traffic for at least 48-hours. The closure taking place next Tuesday and Wednesday will allow Union Pacific Railroad crews to replace rails and the accompanying concrete panels.

It is actually a double whammy for traffic. In addition to forcing a detour for the roadway that sees nearly 20,000 vehicle trips a day, the work will substantially slow down trains passing through Manteca. That means it will take a lot longer for trains to clear Manteca’s other six railroad crossings during the period the work is taking place.

The situation also poses problems for emergency responders such as police, fire, and ambulance. No emergency vehicles will have access through the area from the time it closes to when it reopens to traffic. The target is to have the crossing back open by Thursday, Aug. 11. That assumes nothing goes wrong.

To help alleviate some of the potential congestion, the contractor working on the segment of Wetmore Street that is now closed will have it reopened by Tuesday.

If work progresses on schedule, paving could take place on Saturday. But if that doesn’t happen, the construction firm will put in place a rough base that will allow trucks and cars to use Wetmore.

A routine inspection by the railroad discovered that the variance between the rails and the concrete was no longer within an acceptable range. The work is being done to keep safety at an optimum.

For more information, contact Jason DeGroot with the Manteca Public Works Department at 456-8413.