Description

What is the North I‑215 Widening Project?

This project proposes to widen a 10.75-mile section of I‑215 from 1.3 miles south of Nuevo Road in Perris to .2 miles south of the I‑215/Box Springs Road interchange in Riverside, as well as from the I‑215/SR-60 junction in Riverside to .09 miles east of the SR-60/Day Street interchange in Moreno Valley. One carpool lane is proposed to be added in each direction on I‑215 and a westbound auxiliary lane to improve traffic merging onto SR-60. The existing 46-foot freeway median can be used for some of this widening project, but some outside widening will be required to accommodate the carpool lanes. Using the median to the greatest extent possible will reduce the impacts to homes and businesses located adjacent to the freeway. In addition, the project proposes to add an auxiliary lane to westbound SR-60 between the I‑215/SR-60 junction and the SR-60/Day Street interchange. This auxiliary lane will help with traffic merging along this heavily used section of freeway.

Carpool lanes provide a reliable way to travel for motorists who share rides, ride buses or drive ultra-low emission vehicles. The key concept for carpool lanes is to move more people, rather than more cars. Caltrans has defined the goals of carpool lanes as follows:

To increase the people-moving capacity of freeways
To improve air quality by decreasing vehicle emissions
To reduce traffic congestion and motorist delays by encouraging the use of carpool lanes
To save time and costs for carpool lane users
To improve trip reliability
To reduce dependence upon fossil fuels

For more information about carpool lanes and a map of these existing lanes in the region, go to commutesmart.info.

Improvements to a number of structures also are planned as part of this project, including:

Widening of the Box Springs Road Overcrossing
Widening and stabilization of the Nuevo Road Bridge
Stabilization of the Placentia Avenue Bridge
Stabilization of the Ramona Avenue Bridge
Replacement of the Oleander Avenue Bridge
Replacement of the Alessandro Avenue Bridge
Widening of the Day Street Undercrossing
Separation of the Southbound I‑215/Southbound SR-60 Interchange

Noise studies will be performed to analyze the impacts of the project to area residents. Where appropriate, walls will be considered to mitigate noise resulting from the project improvements. If walls are proposed, property owners adjacent to the walls will be given an opportunity to vote on whether the walls are built.

The preliminary engineering and environmental document phase of this project will involve a series of studies and public meetings that will help determine how the project goals can be met while minimizing the impacts on the surrounding area. The goal is to obtain environmental approvals to allow this project to move forward to construction. This phase is expected to last about three years. Once approvals are received, final engineering design and right of way acquisition, where needed, can begin and will take about two and a half years to complete. Construction will follow and will last about three years. Due to budget constraints, a starting date for the first phase of this project has not been determined.

This estimated $280 million project will be funded in part by Measure A, Riverside County’s ½ cent sales tax for transportation improvements across the county. Other state and federal sources also could be used to complete the funding for this project.