Caltrans hosts annual update for 2017
Caltrans held its annual transportation update this morning for District 11 which covers San Diego and Imperial Counties.
Drivers can expect eight new projects to begin this year, which may lead to some traffic congestion, so what Caltrans is asking from drivers, is patience.
“By far the largest project we currently have underway is interstate 8 update,” said Cory Binns, Chief Deputy District Direct of Caltrans.
The project has been divided into five segments and will cost just over $417 Million for a smoother ride on a stretch of 48 miles.
Two of the first three segments are to be completed one year ahead of schedule. The project is expected to be completed in full around the year 2019.
Officials also explained that funding has been greatly appreciated, but it simply isn’t enough.
“We need about $1.2 billion dollars over the next 10 years, and if we don’t do something about this, that problem will accelerate to over $3 billion dollars in the next 20 years,” said Mark Baza, Executive Director of Imperial County Transportation Commission.
“The good thing is that we’re going to get in over the next few years, and hopefully we won’t have to disrupt travelers for the next 70 years,” added Binns.
Three projects are set to begin in spring of 2017 and the remaining five will begin in the summer.
“In order to do the work, that is the challenging part of what we do, is that there is people driving on the road so that we have to find opportunities to detour them and move them out of the way,” explained Binns.
A majority of the construction projects are scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2017 but some will take a little longer. For a full list you can head to http://www.dot.ca.gov/d11/projects/.
