Manteca is turning into Joyce Kilmer’s kind of town.
Not only does the city itself have over 16,300 park and street trees but within a year 7,100 more trees will line the two major freeways that provide over 100,000 people a day their first impression of Manteca - the Highway 120 Bypass and Highway 99 corridor.
And the transformation can be credited to some quick maneuvering by municipal staff and San Joaquin Council of Government bureaucrats to take advantage of a windfall of federal tax dollars for enhancing the look of freeway corridors that is part of the massive federal stimulus program.
On Tuesday the City Council is expected to award a $2,017,400 contract to Suarez & Munoz Construction to plant over 5,400 trees, 3,900 shrubs, and 28,700 cubic yards of mulch and 500,000 square feet of hydro seed for grass as well as irrigation systems to support the plantings. The project also includes planting of vines along sound walls in a bid to soften the look and reduce the need for graffiti abatement.
The plantings will take place on Highway 99 from French Camp Road to Austin Road and along the Highway 120 Bypass from Highway 99 to Interstate 5. It will also include interchange landscaping on the 120 Bypass at West Yosemite Avenue, Airport Way, and Main Street and the Highway 99/Austin Road interchange. The overcrossings on Highway 99 at Cottage Avenue and Louise Avenue will also have plantings.
The Union Road at 120 Bypass interchange is not being done as work is targeted to start in the next few years to widen the bridge deck to four through lanes and upgrading freeway access. Also the Lathrop Road/Highway 99 interchange is not included as it is being rebuilt in 2014. Both interchanges will be landscaped when they are completed.
All of that is in addition to the $1.4 million bid already awarded to landscape the interchanges on Highway 99 at the 120 Bypass as well as Yosemite Avenue. Actual work on the landscaping parts of those two interchanges is just getting underway. Some 1,700 trees will be planted at the 120 Bypass and Highway 99 interchange.
When completed the weed infested stretches will be replaced with low-maintenance native shrubs and trees that will help mask or soften less appealing looking segments of the community. It also will help reduce noise, work to provide cleaner air, and cut government costs associated with everything from graffiti abatement to fighting dry brush fires.
Both projects require the contractor to provide three years of maintenance and irrigation to get the plantings established.
Originally, Manteca was looking at funding the landscaping for the Yosemite Avenue and Highway 99 interchange that was modernized about two years ago.
It initially involved using Measure K money set aside for landscaping and some city funds. Municipal staff under City Manager Steve Pinkerton’s direction started exploring possible ways the federal funds could be tapped to eliminate the need to spend local money. In researching the availability of federal money, they discovered there was a lack of shovel ready landscaping projects for freeways that is an essential element to secure the stimulus money.
The result was the two projects. It is all being paid for with American Recovery and Investment Act funds from the federal government.
It represents the largest freeway landscaping project ever undertaken in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. It ultimately will give Manteca the best impression to the travel public using freeways among all jurisdictions in the region.
To ensure there would be no impact on the general fund or the city, both projects include the requirement that the contractor irrigate the trees and other plantings for three years. That is enough time to assure that they can be established.
The design is a departure for Caltrans when it comes to landscaping along state freeways.
The planting scheme calls for taller trees in the back with heights scaling downward towards the roadway. The evergreen trees picked for the back are similar to the ones you’ll find along Center Street and the west side of Morezone Field.
Others in the mixture includes several oak trees, western red buds, Chinese pistache, and several others.
They are being planted with chicken wire to protect roots from gophers.
At the same time mulch will be placed in such a manner to serve as a fire break to slow down any fires to allowing firefighters a chance to knock down grass fires hopefully in time before they can damage trees. Designing fire breaks coupled with the fact mature woodlands would minimize the growth of weeds plus block winds could ultimately mean that fires which are a routine occurrence on all quadrants of the interchange during the dry season will be substantially reduced.
Not only does the city itself have over 16,300 park and street trees but within a year 7,100 more trees will line the two major freeways that provide over 100,000 people a day their first impression of Manteca - the Highway 120 Bypass and Highway 99 corridor.
And the transformation can be credited to some quick maneuvering by municipal staff and San Joaquin Council of Government bureaucrats to take advantage of a windfall of federal tax dollars for enhancing the look of freeway corridors that is part of the massive federal stimulus program.
On Tuesday the City Council is expected to award a $2,017,400 contract to Suarez & Munoz Construction to plant over 5,400 trees, 3,900 shrubs, and 28,700 cubic yards of mulch and 500,000 square feet of hydro seed for grass as well as irrigation systems to support the plantings. The project also includes planting of vines along sound walls in a bid to soften the look and reduce the need for graffiti abatement.
The plantings will take place on Highway 99 from French Camp Road to Austin Road and along the Highway 120 Bypass from Highway 99 to Interstate 5. It will also include interchange landscaping on the 120 Bypass at West Yosemite Avenue, Airport Way, and Main Street and the Highway 99/Austin Road interchange. The overcrossings on Highway 99 at Cottage Avenue and Louise Avenue will also have plantings.
The Union Road at 120 Bypass interchange is not being done as work is targeted to start in the next few years to widen the bridge deck to four through lanes and upgrading freeway access. Also the Lathrop Road/Highway 99 interchange is not included as it is being rebuilt in 2014. Both interchanges will be landscaped when they are completed.
All of that is in addition to the $1.4 million bid already awarded to landscape the interchanges on Highway 99 at the 120 Bypass as well as Yosemite Avenue. Actual work on the landscaping parts of those two interchanges is just getting underway. Some 1,700 trees will be planted at the 120 Bypass and Highway 99 interchange.
When completed the weed infested stretches will be replaced with low-maintenance native shrubs and trees that will help mask or soften less appealing looking segments of the community. It also will help reduce noise, work to provide cleaner air, and cut government costs associated with everything from graffiti abatement to fighting dry brush fires.
Both projects require the contractor to provide three years of maintenance and irrigation to get the plantings established.
Originally, Manteca was looking at funding the landscaping for the Yosemite Avenue and Highway 99 interchange that was modernized about two years ago.
It initially involved using Measure K money set aside for landscaping and some city funds. Municipal staff under City Manager Steve Pinkerton’s direction started exploring possible ways the federal funds could be tapped to eliminate the need to spend local money. In researching the availability of federal money, they discovered there was a lack of shovel ready landscaping projects for freeways that is an essential element to secure the stimulus money.
The result was the two projects. It is all being paid for with American Recovery and Investment Act funds from the federal government.
It represents the largest freeway landscaping project ever undertaken in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. It ultimately will give Manteca the best impression to the travel public using freeways among all jurisdictions in the region.
To ensure there would be no impact on the general fund or the city, both projects include the requirement that the contractor irrigate the trees and other plantings for three years. That is enough time to assure that they can be established.
120/99 interchange will resemble mini-woodlands
When it reaches maturity, the 120 Bypass/Highway 99 interchange landscaping will resemble woodlands.The design is a departure for Caltrans when it comes to landscaping along state freeways.
The planting scheme calls for taller trees in the back with heights scaling downward towards the roadway. The evergreen trees picked for the back are similar to the ones you’ll find along Center Street and the west side of Morezone Field.
Others in the mixture includes several oak trees, western red buds, Chinese pistache, and several others.
They are being planted with chicken wire to protect roots from gophers.
At the same time mulch will be placed in such a manner to serve as a fire break to slow down any fires to allowing firefighters a chance to knock down grass fires hopefully in time before they can damage trees. Designing fire breaks coupled with the fact mature woodlands would minimize the growth of weeds plus block winds could ultimately mean that fires which are a routine occurrence on all quadrants of the interchange during the dry season will be substantially reduced.
