As a truck driver for 15 years, John Rhodes was used to slamming on the brakes when he approached Valley View Avenue on the northbound I-5 freeway.

“That’s where the L.A. County line starts – definitely a bottleneck all the way up through the I-605,” said Rhodes, 46, from Anaheim. “You know exactly where the congestion is going to start.”

With an average of 178,000 daily commuters traveling the jam-packed I-5 from the Orange County line to the I-605, Los Angeles County officials say widening the nearly 7-mile-long stretch will provide some relief for motorists who cross the county line and are funneled into the aging Los Angeles portion of the freeway.

The $1 billion expansion is set to add nearly 14 miles of carpool lane miles – seven in each direction – and renovate bridges and off-ramps from Valley View Avenue to Florence Avenue. One regular lane will also be added in each direction.

Caltrans officials say that carpool lanes are seen as the next logical step in accommodating future increases in population and traffic. The widening, officials believe, will improve traffic flow and air quality, reduce freeway noise and encourage ridesharing.

“Commuters on I-5 traveling northbound and southbound to and from Orange County will find an easier, smoother and less-congested transition,” said Caltrans spokeswoman Maria Raptis.

The traffic jams up often on that stretch of freeway, which has been without major improvements since it was built in the mid-1950s. The planned improvements will make the freeway five lanes in each direction, up from three.

“The roadway has served the public well. The I-5 was built to the specifications and regulations of that time and to accommodate the public need at that time,” Raptis said. “We’ve outgrown it, it’s old and it’s time for major improvements, widening and upgrades.”

STARTS AT CARMENITA

The widening project – funded by federal, state and local funding – will be broken down into six segments beginning with the Carmenita Road interchange. Underground utility work for that segment began in late September and will continue until May.

The Carmenita project alone is costing $380 million and will replace the two-lane overpass with a 10-lane structure. Officials say this upgrade – nearly five times its current size – will accommodate current and future bridge traffic and reduce delays. For a project this large, officials said they are expecting few full freeway closures and minimal long-term ramp closures.

The other five projects include improvements at Alondra Avenue, Valley View Avenue, Imperial Highway, and Rosecrans and Florence avenues. In all, 18 structures – including bridges, overcrossings, undercrossings and ramps – will be reconstructed or upgraded.

By 2013, all six projects, totaling nearly $1.6 billion, will be under construction and are expected to complete in 2016.

Caltrans along with several agencies including the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Federal Highway Administration worked for about 10 years on seeing that these projects become a reality, Raptis said.

ORANGE VS. LOS ANGELES



Orange County transportation officials have long criticized their Los Angeles neighbors for a lack of freeway improvements.

Here, billions of dollars has been spent to widen the I-5 to as many as 12 lanes from Dana Point to Orange County’s northern border.

On the I-5 in northernmost Orange County, a $335 million project added one carpool lane and one general travel lane in each direction. O.C. officials said the added lanes will alleviate congestion on the stretch of freeway traveled by an average of 172,000 vehicles a day. Traffic is expected to grow to more than 300,000 average daily vehicles by 2020.

Freeway projects in construction include:

•A $277 million project will directly connect carpool lanes on the I-405, I-605 and 22 freeways. It’s being built in two phases and will be completed in 2014.

•An $84 million project widening the 91 will add one general-purpose lane for six miles in each direction between the 55 and the 241. The project – expected to ease congestion between Orange and Riverside counties – is scheduled for completion in September 2012.

•Improvements to the 57 include adding a northbound lane from north of the 91 near Orangethorpe Avenue in Placentia to Lambert Road in Brea and between Katella and Lincoln avenues in Anaheim. Estimated to cost $143 million, the project is scheduled for completion in 2014.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles County has focused much of its transportation funds on light rail and other mass transit.

L.A.’s half-cent sales tax known as Measure R devotes 35 percent of its funds toward new rail and bus rapid transit; 3 percent goes to Metrolink and 2 percent finances Metro Rail system improvement projects. Carpool lanes and highways get 20 percent of funding. The rest of the funds go toward bus operations and city improvements.

Through the measure, 40 traffic reduction projects are in the works, including the I-5 widening project and the addition of one carpool lane in each direction along the I-5 between the 134 and the 170.

Last year, at an I-5 widening ceremony, Republican Assemblyman Chris Norby of Fullerton noted: “With all the improvements we’ve made here, this gateway going south is also a gateway going north to a freeway of the past – one that hasn’t changed in five and a half decades.”

In a recent interview, Norby described the widening project as “long overdue,” adding that it will save a lot of time for O.C. commuters going toward downtown Los Angeles.

“It’s outdated. The improvements that Orange County has made certainly have not been matched by L.A. County,” Norby said.

Norby talked up Measure M – the county’s half cent sales tax – for transportation improvements approved by voters in 1990. Renewed by voters in 2006, Measure M2 will be in effect in Orange County through 2041.

“I think we’ve got a balanced approach,” Norby said.

Over the years, funds from the measure – divided among freeways, local streets and mass transit – have added 192 freeway lane miles. More than 40 percent of the measure’s funding goes to freeways.

Contact the writer: amolina@ocregister.com or 714-704-3795