Temecula pushes to start work on congestion-busting project

Stalled plans to bring the first new freeway interchange to the so-called “Twin Cities” of southwest Riverside County is expected to shift gears soon and accelerate out of the slow lane, officials said.

But officials acknowledge that a series of steps must be taken before work can begin on the first phase of a $200 million project would be unprecedented for the area.

“There are a lot of moving parts,” Greg Butler, Temecula’s public works director, said following a meeting last week that blended representatives of his city with those from Murrieta. “I just need to have them merge together in the same time frame.”

The first phase of the massive project is expected to cost about $30 million. That portion, which has been in the planning stages for more than a decade, is aimed at easing gridlock conditions that snare southbound drivers as they try to exit Interstate 15 at Winchester Road.

The second phase would create a new interchange on the boundary of the two cities – the first of its kind since the pair of fast-growing communities incorporated beginning in December 1989. When it is completed, the French Valley Parkway interchange would become the latest instance of a local agency planning and securing funding for a major freeway improvement.

“It’s not our job to build freeways, but it is,” Temecula City Councilman Mike Naggar noted during the meeting. “This is really big.”

Over the past two decades, each of the neighboring cities has cobbled together funds for projects that have widened existing freeway bridges or constructed new bridges. Temecula is split by I-15, which also skirts Murrieta’s west side. Interstate 215 begins at the cities’ boundary and bisects Murrieta’s east side before it enters Menifee, Perris, Moreno Valley and other cities.

Temecula has spent an estimated $87 million in recent decades on work that includes widening its freeway bridges and ramps at Winchester and Rancho California roads and constructing a new bridge that spans I-15 at Overland Drive.

The Overland Drive bridge was seen as a way to help lure a regional mall to Temecula, and other ramp improvements were aimed at easing traffic congestion while attracting jobs and industry to the city, officials say.

Over the years, Murrieta kept pace with Temecula’s bridge and ramp improvements as each city surged past the 100,000-resident mark. About a year ago, the neighbors agreed to create the Twin Cities alliance in hopes of boosting the area’s marketing and political profiles.

But neither city – nor any other in southwest Riverside County – has designed, engineered and constructed a new interchange since rapid growth began to surge through the region.

Temecula had to garner state and federal support for the project before pressing forward with the interchange project. City officials hope to seek bids in late June for the first phase of the project. If all goes as planned, construction would begin later this year in anticipation of a new exit lane and ramp opening to traffic in about two years.

The first phase is seen as a relief valve for long lines of vehicles that form as southbound drivers queue up to exit I-15 at Winchester Road. Southbound drivers often back up to Murrieta, and driving can be unnerving as the two freeways merge and motorists jockey to exit or continue onto another exit or into San Diego County.

The first phase of the project would make it easier for drivers to exit onto Winchester Road and enter Murrieta. The new exit ramp would connect with Jefferson Avenue at about Cherry Street.

The final phase would provide a new ramp on the east side of I-15, and weave together 11 bridges that span the freeway and various roads and creeks in the area. A consultant has been selected to design those improvements, but construction is several years off, Butler said.

Most of the funding for the first phase would come from developer fees and a countywide sales tax earmarked for road improvement projects.

Butler said close cooperation will be needed between the two cities in the weeks and months ahead. Utility easements must be obtained, land must be purchased and set aside and environmental studies must be completed.

“I think both (city) councils will see a flurry of activity over the next few months,” Butler predicted. The project has more hurdles than most road improvements because it straddles two cities, he noted. Murrieta officials said they will do all they can to keep the project on track.

“We need to keep that on the priority list and get that ready to go,” Murrieta Councilman Rick Gibbs said at the recent joint meeting.

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