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Quality of Life

Widening Of Interstate 5 Could Begin In 2015

North Coast Corridor
SANDAG
North Coast Corridor

Caltrans officials Friday announced a timeline for widening northbound Interstate 5.

Widening Of Interstate 5 Could Begin In 2015
Motorists heading north on Interstate 5 should see construction begin on two new lanes by 2015 as part of a $6 billion plan.

The final environmental impact report is now complete, and Allan Kosup, Caltrans project director for the North Coast Corridor, said work on widening the coastal freeway should begin within two years. Ultimately, the plan is to add four new HOV lanes in the center of the existing eight lanes.

"It's a $3 billion improvement over 30 years,” Kosup said. “We're going to build it in three phases, and the first phase would be to extend one lane in each direction from Solana Beach, all the way to (state Route) 78. So we would start that in 2015 and hope to be complete in 2018.”

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The plan includes $200 million to mitigate effects on the five coastal lagoons the freeway crosses, Kosup said.

The Environmental Impact Report includes responses to 5,000 public comments.

The whole North Coast Corridor Plan is a $6 billion project.

Railway line improvements are already underway. It was also announced on Friday the number of rail lines are being doubled to allow more trains to reach job centers in Sorrento Valley.

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