Interstate 5 Major Improvement Project

Project History

Caltrans, in collaboration with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the I-5 Consortium Cities Joint Powers Authority (JPA), Orange County Transportation Authority, Federal Transit Administration and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), has completed a Major Investment Study (MIS) to develop improvements for I-5 that would improve mobility and achieve acceptable levels of traffic operation. (An MIS is an integral part of a metropolitan area's long-range planning process that is designed to provide decision-makers with better and more complete information on the options available for addressing identified transportation problems.) The I-5 MIS identified a Locally Preferred Alternative which proposed to widen the existing roadway to a 10 lane, at-grade facility (one High Occupancy Vehicle lane and four mixed flow lanes in each direction). This alternative would also include increases to bus and rail transit services, and Intelligent Transportation Service (ITS) improvements along I-5 and adjacent arterials.

When the MIS was completed in July 1998, funding for the ultimate improvements, the I-5 Major Improvement Project, was not available. The I-5 Interim HOV Project was then initiated in order to assist the declining level of service on the freeway until the ultimate improvements could be implemented. The environmental document for this project was completed in September of 1999 and proposed to add a non-standard HOV lane in each direction of I-5 from SR-91 to Lakewood Boulevard.

In July 2000, Governor Gray Davis signed Transportation Congestion Relief legislation (http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist07/tcrp/tcrp_index.htm), which provided $5.3 billion in critically needed transportation resources to fund more than 100 locally recommended projects throughout California. One of the chosen projects was the ultimate I-5 Major Improvement Project that was studied in the MIS.

The I-5 corridor traverses a fully developed urban area with residential and commercial zones immediately adjacent to the freeway. The environmental impacts on the community need to be carefully evaluated. Early public consultation, or scoping will be done to ensure that all stakeholders are involved in the planning process, and that all potential issues are addressed in the environmental document.

Caltrans will be preparing design plans and environmental documents in the following sequence:

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