Moffat Boulevard just over 17 years ago was one of the last few left exits for northbound traffic traveling Highway 99 through the Central Valley.
Once motorists crossed over southbound traffic on an arching bridge they were dumped onto Moffat that ran past tumbleweed-infested fields, an aging cattle feed lot, the back entrance to Spreckels Sugar, shuttered businesses, inexpensive motels, abandoned gas stations, recycling centers and not much more until they reached South Main Street.
The urban blight of 1995 has slowly given way to urban renewal.
It might not rival The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley but a renaissance is clearly underway on Moffat Boulevard. It was fueled by municipal investments including a liberal amount of funds from the Manteca Redevelopment Agency that will cease to exist Wednesday as the latest casualty in California’s never-ending struggle to balance the state budget.
Signs of the investment by the City of Manteca and the private sector have made over the past 12 years along what was once Highway 99 and the main southern entrance to town can be seen from Austin Road to South Main Street. And once the $6.9 million transit station is completed next spring the days of Moffat being a long neglected stepchild when it comes to corridors of commerce in Manteca will fade even more.
Among the private sector investments:
•The Crossroads Community Church complete with its JFK Airport-style canopy accent to a fountain featuring a massive stone sphere of the earth.
•The Manteca Business Park.
•The southern portion of Spreckels Park including Frito-Lay Distribution and in-line warehouses owned by Hunsaker.
•The first new building on Moffat in more than 20 years opened in 2004 to house Honest Automotive.
•A new California Welding building on Moffat near Woodward and the tearing down of the old welding firm’s structure and an adjoining nightclub that had become blighted.
•A security/safety fence installed between the tracks and the Tidewater Bikeway by Union Pacific Railroad.
Among the municipal investments:
•The Spreckels Park BMX Park.
•Extending Industrial Park Drive across the railroad tracks to Moffat where it intersects with Spreckels Avenue.
•A landscaped storm basin complete with trees.
•More than 250 trees planted along the Tidewater Bikeway’s Moffat leg.
•A new water treatment plant that has yet to be landscaped.
•The installation of curbs, gutter, and sidewalk as correction of storm drain problems from Spreckels to Main.
•Tidewater-style traffic signals at Spreckels/Industrial and Moffat.
Equally important are things that are no longer on Moffat.
•The old Moffat Feed Lot where market cattle were fed sugar beet pulp to produce the odor that hung Manteca with the moniker “Manstinka” for decades.
•Elimination of overnight truck parking on city property in the heart of the Moffat corridor, trucks, though, are now parking on the street and on the dirt between Woodward Avenue and Austin Road.
•A successful effort to stop illegal dumping on city property that parallels the Tidewater Bikeway.
•The razing and removal of several abandoned buildings and other structures gutted by fire.
And there is more in store.
•Oak Valley Community bank has indicated they are still planning to pursue a 6-story building to house regional business operations off of Moffat fronting the Highway 120 Bypass and Highway 99 interchange once the economy picks up enough steam.
•A private sector proposal to build a small business park after purchasing city-owned land backing up to the Tidewater that was put on hold until the economy improves.
•The development of the 1,050-acre Austin Road Business Park in the coming years will allow the Moffat corridor to tie that project into not just downtown but Spreckels Park as well.
