FHWA Celebrates Ribbon Cutting for San Bernardino I-215 North Corridor |
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Topics: Interstate Highway System
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Federal Highway Administration
24 January 2014
FHWA 01-14
Friday, January 24, 2014
Contact: Neil Gaffney
Tel: 202-366-0877
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Federal Highway Deputy Administrator Greg Nadeau joined state and local officials today at a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the completion of the I-215 North Corridor widening project that will improve access to the west side of I-215 and overall mobility through the city of San Bernardino. The $647 million project, which included $128 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding, also helped create jobs in an area hit hard by the economic downturn.
"This project will rejuvenate a community and connect parts of this city that have been separated for decades," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. "It is a great example of how transportation can reduce congestion and strengthen local economies by creating new jobs, improving roads and bringing better mobility."
With its opening, the project is expected to ease congestion along a route that will see its daily driver total grow from 83,000 today to 130,000 in the next 20 years.
"The new I-215 set the stage for growth, created economic opportunity and helped Southern Californians get back to work," said Deputy Administrator Nadeau. "San Bernardino residents can travel on a better road and get safely from one part of town to another without a freeway separating them and with fewer delays."
The four-phase project began in 2007 with bridge replacement and road widening work along the southern end of the I-215 corridor in downtown San Bernardino. It added two freeway lanes in each direction for more than seven miles, along with direct connectors at the State Route 210 interchange. The added freeway lanes (one general purpose lane and one HOV lane) widened I-215 from three lanes to five in each direction. Conventional on- and off-ramps on the far right lane of the freeway replaced fast lane entrances to improve safety. The project also reconstructed seven local street interchanges, widened existing freeway under-crossing structures, improved several local streets and re-configured I-215 in order to reconnect two areas of San Bernardino.