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Skanska, SBCTA Lead I-15 Upgrade to Ease San Bernardino Area Gridlock
Skanska and the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority are leading a massive upgrade to Interstate 15.
By Larry Bernstein CEG CORRESPONDENT
Interstate 15 (I-15) is a north-south highway that runs between San Diego and Sweet Grass, Mont., on the Canadian border. The 1,400-mi.-long I-15 passes through San Bernardino County, which is 50 mi. due east of Los Angeles, and the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA), along with the joint venture Skanska and Coffman Specialties, is working on a long stretch of it to enhance area traffic flow. Significant Congestion The average daily traffic in the project area tops 220,000 vehicles. The project area is near three major highways: State Route 60, Interstate 10, and State Route 210. At each crossing of the major highways and I-15, there is significant congestion. It’s particularly slow going at the I-15 / I-10 interchange. That’s no surprise since half of the interstate truck traffic traveling in and out of Southern California passes through the interchange. The route serves as a connector between Las Vegas and Southern California. The SBCTA said, “Interstate 15 (I-15) is an economic lifeline connecting San Bernardino County and the nation.” Additional Express Lanes The project area runs for just under 11 mi. The team is adding two express lanes in both directions for a total of 8
mi. At the southern end of the project, the new express lanes tie into others in Riverside County. Upon completion, the corridor will include four regular lanes and two express lanes. The lanes will end at Route 66 (Foothill Boulevard). Due to the heavy truck volumes in the area, the team of the SBCTA and Skanska is adding a third lane for freight traffic along a 2-mi. segment north of I-10. Other project elements include: • 33 bridge widenings • Installation of 12,000 ft. of retaining walls and 10,000 ft. of sound walls • Improvements to drainage and electrical systems • Concrete and asphalt paving Why build the sound walls? “At the northern end of the project, past where the express lanes end, there’s a major mall and shopping as well as some communities,” said Skanska Project Executive Rafael Gutierrez, who is overseeing the project. And the retaining walls, most of which are on the northbound side of the I-15? “We’re building the retaining walls along the east side of the freeway, which is mostly a commercial area, so SBCTA couldn’t really acquire more land, which means they’re limited on the area that they can do the widening on,” Gutierrez said. “Because they can’t just have embankments in there, they have to do retaining walls to widen the freeway.” see INTERSTATE page 6
Pillar construction is ongoing.