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Three-year interchange upgrade starts
http://www.pe.com/localnews/morenovalley/stories/PE_News_Local_intersect11.5849e.html

TRANSPORTATION: The connectors of Highways 60 and 91 and Interstate 215 will be rebuilt.

10:56 AM PST on Thursday, March 11, 2004


By BRADLEY WEAVER / The Press-Enterprise

A massive overhaul of a notorious Inland traffic bottleneck eventually will reduce gridlock, but not before construction creates a maze of detours and spawns headaches for motorists.The $317 million upgrade to the Riverside interchange that connects Highways 60 and 91 and Interstate 215 began this week. The project - considered the state's second largest behind the Bay Bridge upgrade in San Francisco - will be completed by 2007 and nearly double the interchange's daily capacity to 250,000 vehicles.

The project area covers six miles of Interstate 215 and shorter sections of Highways 60 and 91 through Moreno Valley and Riverside. Plans call for freeway widening, mile-long freeway-to-freeway connectors, truck lanes and sound walls. The job also will expand the three freeways to five lanes in all directions.

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"It will be a challenge for three years, and it's going to take patience," project director Mark Lancaster said. "But ultimately the commute in that area will be eased, and hopefully that means people will get to spend more time with their families."

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"It's going to be a major mess, so I only hope they speed up the process," said Riverside resident Gary Lupo, who feared that the job would take longer than expected. "Expect more gridlock and road rage." The project, in the works for a decade, will affect portions of Central and University avenues; Watkins Drive; Martin Luther King Boulevard; and Day, Orange, Third and Spruce streets, among others.

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A recent study by the American Highway Users Alliance concluded that motorists collectively waste more than 2 million hours in delay each year on the interchange.

The bottleneck ranked 27th worst in California and 116th in the nation, the study said.

That's no surprise to Kathy Maddox of Riverside.

"We've waited so long for this, so the pain will be worth it," she said.

I pass 215,91 exit's off the 60 twice a day but I miss the worst of the traffic. It is still a pain some days..

but.. We have needed it forever.. I made the mistake of going that way , a while back.. 6 pm.. It took me 40 minutes to navigate 2 miles..