KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
I-5 construction in Santa Clarita is officially underway in a CalTrans effort to refurbish a 15.8-mile stretch of the I-5 — from a half-mile south of the 14 Freeway juncture through Lake Hughes Road.
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CalTrans officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday afternoon officially launching the project, which is expected to be one of several unrelated projects expected to improve the road conditions for Santa Clarita’s local freeways.
The groundbreaking marks the official start for a $171 million CalTrans project, which plans to improve pavement quality by removing old, broken concrete pavement and construct new concrete pavement, according to officials.
“More than 1,000,000 vehicles travel through this section of the I-5 a week, and this highway is the backbone of the state highway system,” said Michael Comeaux, public information officer for CalTrans. “It is a major connector between the Central Valley and the Los Angeles Port, so it’s important that we can get in there and improve all the wear-and-tear that has happened over the years.”
Related: Metro, CalTrans Hosts Meeting On I-5 Freeway Construction In Santa Clarita
While the work will improve the roads in the long run, in the short term, it’s expected to impact traffic for commuters.
Construction is starting at the same time as Caltrans is accelerating dozens of highway projects in California under the state’s new funding for transportation, Senate Bill 1, which Governor Jerry Brown signed into law in April of this year.
“Safe and smooth roads make California a better place to live and strengthen our economy,” said Governor Brown. “This legislation will put thousands of people to work.”
To be clear, Wednesday’s project had already been slated by CalTrans before SB 1 had been signed into law, but officials believe that the improvements made during this first project can demonstrate some of the possibilities of SB 1.
“It’s a coincidence that this project, which had been in the ‘pipeline’ for a while, is beginning just as a bunch of SB-1 projects are because it’s not an SB-1 project,” said Comeaux. “But it is a really good example of what type of work SB 1 is going to pay for.”
SB 1 includes the new fees when vehicles are registered and California motorists paying higher gas and diesel taxes. Dubbed the Roadway Rehabilitation Project, this legislation plans to provide $5.2 billion annually for California road and bridge improvements, such as this strip of road through the Northern Los Angeles County and Santa Clarita area, according to officials.
The justification for the improvements is not only to fix parts of the road that cause damage to trucks and vehicles, but as Senator Henry Stern pointed out, the project can also improve safety for the busy highway’s motorists themselves.
“Transportation infrastructure might seem invisible or a pain in the neck, but we have people jump the freeway or see potholes that are so egregious that big rigs fall off their axles,” said Stern. “(This project) is going to make people’s lives safer.”
Along with discussion of the future goals of this project and SB 1 goals, Caltrans also showcased the new temporary lanes and concrete barriers that have been set up to protect work areas on I-5, which has significant truck traffic.
“All of our pavement and infrastructure is getting older by the day,” said CalTrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “Our intent is to fix this pavement so that it’s good for another 40 or 50 years.”
This project should also not be confused with Measure M — a Los Angeles County half-cent sales tax increase and continuance of the half-cent traffic relief tax which will fund Metro projects in the future. This project had been projected by CalTrans before the passage of SB-1 or Measure M.
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Our corrupt government never wants to mentions that all this work is being done so that they can set up TOLLS!!!
No more carpool lanes! TOLLS! Get ready Santa Clarita! Bend over and take it like a mild mannered progressive!
Gas will be over $5.00 per gallon when it’s completed.
When will the car pool lanes be extended? The ending of the car pool lanes and the merging of the truck lanes on I-5 have created a bottleneck even during off hours at the top of Newhall Pass. With new homes coming to the Santa Clarita Valley the backup will be much worse if something is not started soon.
As usual, the real issues are swept under the carpet. Our taxes should of been paying to MAINTAIN our roads way before they fell into this state of disrepair. Jerry Brown thinks he’s doing us all a favor, except we are doing HIM a favor because WE are the ones having to pay the exorbitant gas taxes and vehicle registrations fees. And how about the (most) recent fees we Californians must pay now when we sell our house? We can’t even sell our house and get out of this state without fee-happy politicians dipping into our pockets. I have an idea…instead of dubbing the I-5 repairs as ‘Roadway Rehabilitation Project’, let’s change it to ‘Californians Will Pay For Roadwork Twice Project’.