On Saturday, San Diego highway planners are throwing a party to mark the end of construction of State Route 52, whose final eastern section will be in use by the end of the month. Planning the 17-mile-long, east-west freeway has been going on since the 1980s and construction began more than 15 years ago.
The last leg will connect Highway 125 to Highway 67 in Santee. Joel Haven is the corridor director of Route 52 for CALTRANS. He said by the end of the month it'll be just another road.
"We'll just go into our maintenance mode and take it into our inventory and treat it like any other freeway," he said.
Route 52 was built to relieve traffic pressure on the I-8 and other east-west roads in San Diego county. Haven said the final leg of the freeway is three-and-a-half miles long and cost $525 million.
"That includes not only building the road, but also the engineering that had to take place as well as buying the right of way," he added.
Saturday’s street party in Santee will feature face painting, high school bands and free T-shirts. Happy motoring!
