Public officials at the groundbreaking this morning including Metro Board Members Diane DuBois and Don Knabe in the center of the frame. Photo by Luis Inzunza/Metro.
The project that broke ground this morning will widen the 5 freeway for 1.2 miles between Shoemaker and Silverbow avenues by adding a general purpose lane and HOV lane in both directions. The project will also widen three bridges over the freeway — at Shoemaker, Rosecrans and Bloomfield. Metro is contributing $42 million of the $214 million cost of the project, with Metro’s money coming from Prop C (1990) and Measure R (2008) sales tax increases approved by county voters.
This is one of six projects that will add a general purpose lane and a carpool lane to the 5 freeway for seven miles in both directions from the 605 freeway junction to the border between L.A. and Orange counties. That border is a well-known bottleneck — Orange County has widened the 5 and added a carpool lane whereas the 5 remains three or four lanes north of the county line. The completion date for all of the projects is 2016.
Below is the program from today’s ceremony and a project map. The news release from Caltrans is posted after the jump.
Click above to see larger image.
Click above to see larger image.
And here’s a project map:
