Mission Valley will be a bit less congested from now on thanks to a $40 million construction project that adds lanes to the Friars Road and state Route 163 interchange.
Specifically, Friars Road and the Friars Road overpass was widened from three lanes to four. Also, an additional southbound lane was added on Frazee Road between Murray Canyon Road and Friars Road. Finally, the project included a second left-turn lane on eastbound Friars Road to northbound SR-163 on-ramp.
"As our region continues to grow, so do the demands on our infrastructure and we have to design, build and operate an integrated system that provides safe pathways for all modes of transportation including walking, biking, carpooling and public transportation," said Gustavo Dallarda from Caltrans.
RELATED: Caltrans Permanently Closing Northbound SR-163 Off-Ramp To Friars Road
Dallarda joined Lisa Gualco, the general manager of the Hazard Center shopping center, and San Diego City Councilman Scott Sherman in a ceremony Tuesday announcing the completion of the project, which was funded with help from Transnet, a voter-approved half-cent sales tax that funds regional transportation projects.
"Mission Valley has a lot of development coming in the future," Sherman said. "One of the most important parts if we're going to do that development, it has to be done right and we have to have that traffic mitigation and that traffic to flow to make sure that people can go to and from their homes and to and from the businesses down here in Mission Valley. This is the beginning of that process."
The new lanes are opening just in time for Black Friday and business owners say they hope it makes the shopping experience more manageable.
"Friars Road has always been very busy starting Black Friday up through the Christmas holiday and into the New Year's," Gualco said. "So this is just going to greatly improve the flow of traffic and encourage people to come down here and not be concerned that it's going to be the gridlock that it was years ago."
