City to Begin Highway Improvements

By Cheryl Winkelman, STAFF WRITER

MANTECA — A $17.5 million construction project that widens the State Route 120/Highway 99 interchange at the Highway 99/Yosemite Avenue exit will be kicked off with a ground-breaking ceremony Thursday.

“It’s a big project for us,” said Michael Brinton, the city’s director of public works.

Members of the City Council, Caltrans and the project’s design team are expected to attend the 10 a.m. ground breaking next to In- N-Out Burger.

Paid for by state and federal money, Manteca’s development impact fees and Measure K — the 1/2-cent sales tax for transportation — the upgrades should be completed by summer 2007.

Improvements are greatly needed because the structure is 50 years old and antiquated, said Jan Stanley, a public outreach coordinator for the project with Judith Buethe Public Relations.

In addition, “sound walls are very popular with some of the people there,” she said. Sound walls will be put up along El Rancho Mobile Home Park and the northbound and southbound offramps.

The project will also eliminate congestion, said David Vickers, the city’s transportation analyst.

Route 120 will be widened to eight lanes at the overpass, including two left turn lanes on each side to access Highway 99. Route 120 will be widened to five lanes east of Highway 99. The current overpass on Highway 99 will be replaced by a longer, wider one.

Improvements will be made to accommodate pedestrians and bikers, with wider sidewalks and bicycle lines added along Yosemite underneath Highway 99′s overpass.

Aesthetics have also been considered. A design will be etched into the bridge facing Yosemite depicting oak trees and the foothills. And a welcome-to-Manteca sign will stand on a landscaped island in the middle of Yosemite across from Starbucks when the project is finished.

To reach Cheryl Winkelman, call (209) 832-6144 or e-mail at cwinkelman@angnewspapers.com.