Caltrans announced this morning that one of the southbound lanes of the I-215 freeway will close for most of the day tomorrow, from 5:00am to 4:00pm. The lane is located underneath the McCall Rd bridge.

In addition, that same lane will be closed each night from 9:00pm to 5:00am, beginning Sunday, June 22nd through Saturday, June 28th.

This is to repair structural damage to the bridge.

Labels: 215-Freeway, McCall-Blvd

Weather Currents, a weather service focusing on SW Riverside County, reports that a tornado touched down in Perris this afternoon, by the I-215 freeway near Oleander Ave, during the height of rush hour traffic...

Radio reports indicated an overturned truck on the freeway near March Air Reserve Base, and overturned railroad cars nearby.

In the aftermath, oil and fuel were in traffic lanes, the driver of the overturned truck was taken to the hospital, and traffic on the freeway was being re-routed.

Read the full news here...

http://weathercurrents.com/menifeevalley/NewsItemDisplay.do?Id=474

Here's video of the tornado, and the aftermath...
http://videos.nctimes.com/p/video?id=1895232

Labels: 215-Freeway, Perris, Weather

Is six lanes on the I-215 enough?

That's what CalTrans is planning for the I-215 between Nuevo Rd in Perris all the way south to the I-15 interchange to six lanes. Three lanes each way.

Is that enough?

Considering the fact that the California State Department of Finance predicts Riverside County to become the second largest county in the state by mid-century, and the fact that much of the population increase is expected to reside from Perris to Murrieta, it seems like we need more lanes than that. How about eight lanes or ten lanes?

My guess is that CalTrans may be able to widen the I-215 to six lanes by utilizing the center median and shoulders. On the other hand, eight lanes may require rebuilding all of the overpasses.

But here's the thing. Pretty much all of the overpasses along this stretch of the I-215 needs to be widened anyways. 4th Street, McCall, Newport, Scott, and Clinton Keith, are all insufficient given today's traffic problems, and not even taking into account the future Countryside Marketplace on Newport and future Wal-Mart on Scott. If they have to widen these overpasses anyways, they may as well design them to stretch over eight lanes of the I-215.

But I'm sure it always comes down to money.

But then again, take a look at the 91 freeway going through Corona. That thing has 10 lanes and is still not enough.

Construction to widen the I-215 won't begin until 2010, and may not complete until 2012. The Newport Rd overpass is supposedly being widen even further sometime in 2011.

Read more about this subject at The Californian, here...
http://www.nctimes.com/..../8_22_427_11_07.txt

Labels: 215-Freeway, Traffic

According to Julie Johnson, with the Menifee-Sun City Chamber of Commerce, new freeway signs marking the boundary of Menifee Valley are in the works. Supervisor Jeff Stone's office is working with CalTrans to get signs posted on the 215 Freeway telling drivers that they are entering "Menifee Valley".

They're hoping the signs will be in place about six months from now.

One sign will be placed at the southern border near Scott Road, while another will be placed at the northern border near Ethanac Road. The sign currently in place for Sun City will be removed.

A population number will be displayed on the signs with a figure of approximately 62,000, based on data from the South West California Economic Alliance.

Labels: 215-Freeway