ESCONDIDO: Construction of I-15 ramps will disrupt city's industrial district

Commuter lanes project slated to begin in October

By DAVID GARRICK - Staff Writer | Tuesday, July 22, 2008 7:11 PM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- City leaders and merchants in the city's Hale Avenue industrial corridor are asking for more details about state Department of Transportation plans to build freeway ramps in the area beginning this fall.

The ramps, which are not scheduled to be complete until 2011, will allow motorists to connect directly to the commuter lanes under construction in the middle of Interstate 15.

One ramp will allow motorists to climb directly onto the new southbound commuter lanes, instead of entering the freeway at a regular onramp and having to cross over several lanes to get to them. A second ramp will allow motorists to exit the northbound commuter lanes.

The commuter lanes are restricted to buses, car pools, motorcycles and drivers with Fastrak passes. The lanes are being built to reduce rush-hour freeway congestion. The ramps will also serve special "rapid" commuter buses that will pick up passengers a few blocks away at the Escondido Transit Center.

Merchants interviewed Tuesday morning said they were confused about how the ramps would be built and expressed concern that construction-related traffic problems could hurt their businesses during the three-year project.

Officials with the state Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, said the neighborhood should expect sharp increases in dust and noise from jackhammers, but that traffic congestion would probably not get significantly worse.

The project will require the realignment of some roadways and additional traffic signals in the neighborhood, which is south of Highway 78 and just east of the Escondido Auto Park. There are no residential properties in the area.

Councilman Ed Gallo said he was as confused and concerned as some of the merchants, and that he has asked Caltrans to give the council a thorough presentation about the project next month.

"The business people in that area need to know how it's going to affect their neighborhood," said Gallo. "What we need is a simplified version of exactly what's going to happen."

David Stebbins, a design manager for Caltrans, said Tuesday that construction would extend about half a block in each direction from where the freeway crosses over Hale Avenue. But he said that Hale would only be closed a few times during the whole project and that all closures would be at night.

Stebbins said the new ramps are part of the $110 million northern section of the $1.3 billion Interstate 15 commuter lanes project.

Four such lanes have been built in the center of I-15 between Highway 56 and the Centre City Parkway exit in Escondido. But the commuter lanes must still be constructed from Highway 56 to Highway 163 and from Centre City Parkway up to Highway 78.

The commuter lanes are called "managed" because they will have a movable barrier allowing Caltrans to vary how many of the lanes carry northbound and southbound traffic. During the morning commute, three lanes will travel southbound and one will travel north. In the evening, three lanes will travel northbound and one will travel southbound.

Work on the northern section, which is slated to begin in October, will include widening the existing southbound and northbound lanes of I-15. Stebbins said crews will then "break off" the inside portion of the existing northbound lanes to create enough space for the commuter lanes, which will be built in between the existing northbound and southbound lanes.

Next, crews will begin building the Hale Avenue ramps. Because the freeway is 22 feet above the ground and the commuter lanes will be the same height, the ramps will climb 22 feet from where the freeway crosses Hale to where the ramps will connect to the commuter lanes just above Escondido Creek, said Stebbins. Each of the new ramps will be nearly 200 yards long, he said.

The final phase of the project will be erecting a traffic signal at Hale Avenue and Simpson Way, a three-way intersection that the ramps will transform into a four-way intersection. The alignment of the new intersection will not be exactly perpendicular, so Stebbins said Caltrans would utilize "creative striping" to aid motorists.

Joel Brown of Printing Solutions, which is three buildings north of where the new ramps will be built, said Tuesday that access to the business was his key concern, not dust or noise.

"We need to get our customers into the shop, and this project might make that a hassle," said Brown.

Scott Baird of Boatland Escondido, which is also nearby on Hale Avenue, said most merchants in the area know very little about the ramp project.

"I don't know if anyone is really paying attention," said Baird. "But if they tear the road up, that's going to affect us big time."

Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler said the project is exciting from a regional perspective because it will ease congestion on the freeway and many surface streets when it is complete in 2011 or 2012. But she said there are some concerns about its local impact.

"Sometimes when we think regionally we forget about how things will physically change local neighborhoods, such as the neighborhood underneath these ramps," said Pfeiler.

Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 740-5468 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.

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