SANDAG
  
banner

This Month

SANDAG newsletter provides access to regional information
rule
Connect to the new 511
traffic service
rule
New minimum FasTrak toll starts May 1 rule
I-5/805 bypass lane at
Merge now open
rule
California awards grant to SANDAG to help improve transportation-land use connection rule
Bike to Work Day is May 18
rule
Lake Hodges bicycle and pedestrian bridge receives funding
rule
New land use maps available
rule
SANDAG Board Actions available online
rule


   the rEgion
 

I-5/805 bypass lane at Merge now open New bypass lane opens

State transportation officials joined local elected representatives on March 27 to place the final lane markers on the I-5/805 Merge widening project. Southbound bypass lanes and new Carmel Mountain Road on and off ramps opened to traffic April 3rd, signaling the completion of the $176 million project five months ahead of schedule.

The two-mile bypass lanes runs between the I-5/805 “Merge” and SR 56, and will allow traffic to flow parallel to the freeway on barrier-separated roadways. Bypass lanes opened on the northbound side of the merge in early 2006.

“We are thrilled to be opening the second part of a project that will help reduce growing traffic congestion on one of the most heavily used portions on Interstate 5,” said Caltrans District 11 Director Pedro Orso-Delgado.

Lemon Grove Mayor and SANDAG Chair Mary Teresa Sessom joined State Assembly member George A. Plescia, Caltrans Director Will Kempton, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, and San Diego Council President Scott Peters to mark this significant transportation milestone. California Transportation Commissioner John Chalker, Del Mar Councilmember Crystal Crawford, Encinitas Deputy Mayor Jerome Stocks, and Escondido Mayor and SANDAG Vice Chair Lori Holt Pfeiler also participated in the ceremony.

“This new bridge will improve safety for drivers who are merging between 5 and 805,” said Mayor Sessom. “This bypass will increase capacity for the thousands of cars and trucks that use these freeways.”

The 5/805 merge is the busiest interchange in San Diego County and has an average daily traffic volume of nearly 300,000 cars. With both the north and southbound bypasses open the merge will be 22 lanes across. This corridor is considered a “lifeline facility” for the region and is an integral part of the SANDAG Regional Transportation Plan.

“And this is just one of the many transportation infrastructure projects underway throughout our region,' noted Mayor Sessom. “Thanks to our TransNet half-cent sales tax and the new California infrastructure bonds, improvements are slated for all of our major highways as well as many major streets, and our public transit system.”

Future projects on Interstate 5 include an extension of the existing northbound and southbound HOV lanes along I-5 from just south of Via de La Valle to just south of Manchester Avenue. This project is scheduled to begin in fall of this year. The existing Lomas Santa Fe Drive interchange also will be reconfigured, with construction scheduled to begin in 2009.

The North Coast I-5 HOV/Managed Lanes Project, also scheduled to begin in 2009, proposes to further relieve congestion along I-5 by adding one carpool lane in each direction from Genesee Avenue to Del Mar Heights Road. Two new managed lanes will be added in each direction from Del Mar Heights Road to Vandegrift Boulevard/Harbor Drive in Oceanside.