REGION: I-215 widening project starts engine
New lanes to arrive by 2011
By NICOLE SACK - Staff Writer | ∞
MURRIETA ---- Most people in this region have one major question about a plan to add lanes to Interstate 215.
"When?"
The answer is probably not soon enough for those who drive the stretch of freeway through Southwest Riverside County.
But for the Riverside County Transportation Commission, the start of the project is close enough to warrant public meetings for discussion of the proposal, including one held Wednesday at Vista Murrieta High School.
About 30 people attended the session to hear details about the widening project, which will stretch 29 miles from Murrieta Hot Springs Road just north of Interstate 15 to Highway 60 at the western boundary of Moreno Valley. The project will be constructed in three segments ---- southern, central and northern ---- and will cost approximately $417 million.
The first of those segments will span about 6 miles from Murrieta Hot Springs Road in Murrieta to Scott Road at the city's northern border. The project will add one lane in each direction to the existing four lanes. The new lanes will be constructed in the unused center median.
Eliza Echevarria, the commission's community relations manager, said the most common question about the project is when will it be done.
Construction for the southern section is expected to begin in 2011 and be completed in 2014, said Bob Wunderlich, project coordinator with Bechtel Infrastructure Corp., a consultant for the project.
As far as what types of impacts will occur to traffic during the construction process, Wunderlich said, drivers can probably expect lanes to be shifted around staging and work areas.
"This will certainly be an enhancement to the capacity of the road," Wunderlich said. "The need is there right now. All you need to do is look to see the backup that occurs during peak travel times."
The central project area will extend from Scott Road to Nuevo Road where another lane will be added in each direction. The third and northernmost project area will add one car pool lane in each direction from Nuevo Road in Perris to Highway 60. That section of I-215 now has three lanes in each direction.
Using the median for the widening will minimize the impact to homes and businesses along the freeway as new land won't have to be acquired for the project, said commission representatives.
However, noise and environmental studies will still be needed to analyze the impacts of the new traffic lanes.
"I think this is going to work out pretty well," said Jean Somers, one of those who attended the meeting. "I think this is going to be wonderful for the area."
Somer, who said she has lived in Murrieta resident for 34 years, has watched the region and traffic on I-215 grow. She also said she has learned "when to avoid it," as she tries to limit her use of the freeway to between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., and if she has to leave Murrieta, she does it before 3 p.m.
The projects will be paid for in part by the $2 billion from voter-approved Measure A, which authorized a half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements across the county.
"This project is going to make the lives of our constituents who spend a lot of time on these highways better," said Jeff Greene, chief of staff for Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Murrieta. "And it's nice to see tax dollars benefiting taxpayers directly."
For more information about the widening project, go to www.i215project.info or call the Riverside County Transportation Commission at (951) 787-7141.
Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or nsack@californian.com.
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Scorpion wrote on Jun 26, 2008 5:47 AM:Talk about planning for yesterday... Why aren't officials planning to widen this to four lanes each way? The need is already there. Why disrupt traffic twice when you can do it all at once?
They'll have to shift traffic to the right in order to do the construction of the third lane. They should just leave it shifted to the right and squeeze two lanes into the center. After they do that, they can ad some pavement to the outside in order to make all the lanes a little wider, but c'mon people -- 215 needs to be twice as wide as it is now!
John wrote on Jun 26, 2008 10:23 AM:Your tax dollars at work without any foreknowledge of the future.
Andrew wrote on Jun 26, 2008 11:05 AM:Its because it will take 10 years.
Just like they say about drilling for oil. To them its pointless. Thanks government for looking into the future.
Thanks Bob wrote on Jun 26, 2008 11:52 AM:It never occurred to us stuck in the I-215 logjam that more lanes were needed. You Bechtel guys are pure genius.
Incredible wrote on Jun 26, 2008 1:22 PM:These improvements were needed 5-10 years ago not start them in three years and finish the first part in 6 more years. The way I read this is that they will be widening the 215 for a minimum of nine years. OMG. How many times have they repaved the 215 in the last decade, why didn't they use the millions of dollars that they wasted on that and start the widening project then.
Concerned One wrote on Jun 26, 2008 3:43 PM:In a perfect world, or even less than perfect world, Caltrans would have built the three lanes years ago and would go to four now. Or, build the four now instead of three, but this is not even close to a perfect world. The hoops you have to jump through today are incredible. Obstructionists masquerading as environmentalists have been very successful in making anything you want to build in SoCal very time consuming, difficult and expensive. Welcome to the real world. Regards, C-1.
Always Behind wrote on Jun 27, 2008 7:42 AM:Not in this case C-1. The widening is in the median. One of the problems are priorities. Until recently SWC has been low on the priority list. Then there's the overall highway system, always behind the eight-ball because our gas taxes are used elsewhere.
john wrote on Jun 27, 2008 8:33 AM:How about our high speed rail service ???
The wonderfull state of california , being the SEVENTH largest economy in the world . still doesent have any thing close to becoming a real idea ...
how can England and France afford to dig the Chunnel under the English channel. And we dont have enough forthought to get started on this project . CALIFORNIA needs a better rail service NOW . Get the big picture ... not this little myopic view of of the need to expaned just the freeway .
Please can we build more homes by the thousands then worry about it ???
For those of us who have had family living in this valley for over a hundred years .. we say the blame rests on the heads of the county supervisors and their lack of planning for the problems
Concerned One wrote on Jun 27, 2008 8:45 AM:I agree with you Always Behind. Good points. Still my points are valid. Regards C-1.
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