Traffic relief for interstate 15

San Diego Business Journal, March 10, 2008 by Liz Wiedemann

Traffic Relief For Interstate 15: The San Diego Association of Governments and California Department of Transportation broke ground on a $467 million project that could help relieve congestion along the Interstate 15 corridor.

Plans include the addition of a seven-mile stretch of freeway-within-a-freeway.

Transportation officials, including Caltrans Director Will Kempton, commenced the construction of four high-occupancy vehicle/managed lanes in the center median of 1-15 between state Routes 163 and 56. To create a 20-mile stretch from Miramar

to Escondido, the new lanes will link up with an identical project already under construction along the middle section of I-15 and a third that will soon begin in the north.

Lemon Grove Mayor Mary Sessom, chairwoman of the Sandag board, said in a Sandag press release that the project will expand the use of car pooling and bus rapid transit in San Diego.

"This cutting-edge infrastructure will open up one of the most congested highways in our region, while at the same time helping the environment," Sessom said.

Funding for the project, expected to be completed in 2012, comes from local, state and federal allocations, as well as the TransNet half-cent sales tax collected in San Diego County.