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Truck traffic prompts rehab of Harlan Road
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Travelers along Harlan Road over the course of the next two months might be subjected to delays as the city works to repair the extensive damage that has been done to the frontage road from heavy truck traffic. 

Earlier this month work began on rehabbing a section of Harlan Road from Roth Road to roughly halfway down to Lathrop Road – a segment that has seen a huge increase in the number of trucks over the last several years thanks to the addition of large light-industrial warehouse buildings in the area. 

Just recently that segment of Harlan Road became home to a UPS sorting and transfer facility, which according to Lathrop Senior Civil Engineer Michael King, has generated more traffic at that intersection and along that stretch of road. 

Teichert Construction, which is working right now to complete the Lathrop Road widening project, will be handling the construction duties – both projects were bid together in order to get the city the best price possible on both of them. 

According to King, the city will be utilizing a technique during the rehab called a full depth reclamation, or an FDR for short, in which crews utilize the existing roadway material and fortify it with concrete to create a new, stronger base before placing an asphalt coating on top of it. King said that the concrete helps make the road itself more stable and able to carry heavy trucks over an extended period of time, and is a much more environmentally friendly process because the existing material isn’t hauled away and replaced with only new oil-based asphalt. 

Temporary lane closures are expected – with flaggers holding traffic during construction hours to allow crews the safety necessary to complete the project – and will be intermittent since the asphalt work requires that the weather be clear and not terribly cold in order to set properly. 

Even before that section is completed, King said, work will begin on the southern end of Harlan Road past Lousie Avenue – another truck-heavy area that has put a lot of wear-and-tear on the asphalt over the last decade. 

With distribution centers for In-n-Out Burger, Home Depot, JC Penney, and Food-4-Less located along this stretch of road, and with the new Tesla manufacturing facility there as well, the mostly industrial access road has taken the brunt of the damage as tractor-trailers get off of the freeway at Louise Avenue and drive down and over to where the business park is located. 

King said that work will likely begin in two weeks with marking of existing underground utilities and prep work, and the removal of the existing asphalt will begin shortly thereafter – utilizing the same FDR recycling technique that is being used on the northern section of Harlan Road. City representatives have already worked with local businesses in the area about how to minimize impacts, and traffic along that route isn’t expected to be impacted nearly as much as to the north because the road is wide enough to complete one lane at a time before switching over to finish the project – which is expected to happen by this spring. 

 

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.