Measure I: Interstate 10 Widening - Redlands
Fall 2007 was a busy time for the Interstate 10 widening project in Redlands, with the opening of a new eastbound lane on November 15 and a new westbound lane on December 12.
The widening of this 2.5-mile freeway section between Orange Street and Ford Street has helped relieve a long-standing traffic bottleneck in this location. The opening of the two new lanes has created four mixed-flow lanes in each direction, instead of the previous three, and has greatly improved the flow of traffic throughout the day.
SANBAG began working with Caltrans, the Federal Highway Administration and the City of Redlands on this $46.5 million construction effort in November 2005. Finish work and landscaping work will continue through 2008.
The need to widen I-10 through this area is evident. Cities in San Bernardino County and neighboring Riverside County that line the freeway have been growing steadily during the past decade, generating greater traffic volumes than ever before. Vacation travelers create additional traffic. In addition, I-10 is a heavily used route by trucks carrying cargo from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. More than 40% of the goods entering the United States come into these ports, and nearly one-third of the total freight tonnage transported across America now travels on this freeway, according to the National I-10 Freight Corridor Study. In addition, the overall volume of traffic on Interstate 10 across San Bernardino County is topped only by the volume on I-10 in Phoenix and Los Angeles.
Throughout the project, construction work was conducted in four stages:
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The first stage, rehabilitation of the freeway shoulder, was completed in mid-December 2005. Crews repaved deteriorated shoulders, restriped lanes and then shifted traffic to the right to allow work to start on the freeway bridges.
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The second stage , reconstruction of 11 freeway bridges, was completed in April 2007. This stage involved widening bridges at Orange, Sixth, Church, the BNSF Railroad tracks, University, Citrus, Cypress, Palm, Highland, Ford and Redlands Blvd. Crews built new bridges to “marry” the current divided structures. Palm trees were removed from between the bridges and planted near the Ford Street ramps.
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The third stage, lane paving and median barrier construction, also was completed in April 2007. During this stage of work, crews paved the freeway median to add one eastbound lane and one westbound lane, plus space for future expansion. A concrete median barrier also was built to divide the freeway and prevent head-on collisions from opposing traffic. Lanes were re-striped and traffic was shifted to the newly paved lanes next to the freeway median to allow work to start on sound walls. The lanes next to the outside freeway shoulders were closed so that crews could build the sound walls safely.
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The fourth stage of work, construction of sound walls and landscaping, was completed in March 2008. Residential sound walls were built next to the freeway to reduce noise. Crews built these 14-foot split-face block walls north of the freeway, approximately from 6th Street to east of Highland Avenue, and south of the freeway approximately from the BNSF Railway tracks to east of Highland Avenue. As part of this phase of work, several bridges were retrofitted to support the weight of the sound walls. Landscaping started in late 2007 with the installation of irrigation systems. Crews planted vines, shrubs and groundcover to provide color and reduce graffiti on walls. The plants will be monitored for one year to ensure their continued growth.
Construction for the project was financed through a combination of federal Surface Transportation Program funds and Measure I funds. SANBAG managed the project design, with participation from the Federal Highway Administration, Caltrans and the City of Redlands.
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