It is a frustrating fact of life in Manteca.Whenever a Union Pacific train slows down to a crawl - or comes to a complete stop - crossing Manteca on a surface street is time intensive at best or impossible at worst.There are eight at-grade crossings between Austin Road and Airport Way. Should a train block all eight crossings - it happens throughout the year - the only option open to cross Manteca is hop on the freeway and use the 120 Bypass.And while fire and ambulance stations are dispersed to minimize emergency services getting cut-off by stopped trains there is a growing concern that the expansion of the Union Pacific intermodal truck to train operation on the edge of Northwest Manteca will translate into more - and longer - trains going through Manteca at slow speeds.The plan is to increase the capacity of the intermodal facility by 2.5 times in the near future“It’s something we need to be thinking about now,” agreed Manteca Mayor Willie Weatherford about an overcrossing.But there are two big hang-ups - cost and the footprint an underpass or overpass would require.When Lathrop built the Lathrop Road overcrossing less than 10 years ago, the cost was in excess of $15 million. It was a relatively easy project to pursue as they was no development immediately along the roadway.That is not the case at the eight Manteca crossings.Weatherford noted the footprint required for an overcrossing or undercrossing would require the taking of property that is already developed And if it was an overcrossing- the less costly of the two separated crossings to build - it would impact residents in a larger swath as they’d have motorists looking into their back yards.It is why a previous council abandoned plans in the early 1990s for a separated grade crossing on Center Street.A decade later a separated crossing on Airport Way was proposed but the city eventually dropped it from a list of projects for future funding due to costs and other pressing road needs.There is a separated crossing planned as part of the proposed “new” Austin Road interchange envisioned to the south of the present location.