From the CW News 6:
SAN DIEGO — Caltrans officials sought public comment Wednesday on proposals designed to ease congestion along the interchange between the I-5 and State Route 56.
Currently, there is no direct freeway connector between the southbound 5 and eastbound 56, and between the westbound 56 and northbound 5.
“It’s like banging your head against the wall. It’s slow,” said commuter Greg Perez about making to the transition to the 5 north.
During peak travel times, Caltrans estimates it takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to transition from one freeway to another, depending on the direction. Without construction to supplement the interchange, those travel times are expected to double by 2030.
“I think it’s important to say there is no perfect alternative,” said Allan Kosup, I-5 Corridor Director for Caltrans. Options include building direct connectors between the freeways, adding auxiliary lanes on I-5, doing a mix of both, or doing nothing.
The price tag to do something ranges from $95 million to $250 million.
“The travel time savings is anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes depending on what alternative you select, compared to no build,” Kosup told a crowd Wednesday at a public town hall on the project in Del Mar.
Opponents of the project cite concerns with changing the landscape, noise, and encroaching on people’s backyards.
“It’s going to destroy the whole view, the whole scenic area,” said Noelle Spaid, who lives near the interchange.
Up to 27 homeowners’ properties could be affected, but no homes would be displaced entirely, according to Caltrans documents. Many of the affected “backyards” are hillside slopes, not usable space, said Kosup.
As for noise, Kosup says all the projects would maintain or reduce existing levels.
Caltrans is hoping to select an option by the end of this year so crews can work concurrently with the I-5 corridor project. Construction will begin when funding is available, likely sometime after 2020, said Kosup.
This should have done in connection with the construction of the Bypass. I also will never understand why they decided to construct the 56 with only 2 lanes on each side for most of the way. 3 should be the minimum for any freeway.
agree.
although they do have space in the center to add lanes to.
They need to do this, as well as make Ted Williams/15 into a full interchange as well.
btw, the meeting appears to be sparsely attended. and most likely, in attendance at the meeting were probably the 20 homeowners who’s views would be affected.
From CoreLogic:
CoreLogic … reported today that the current residential shadow inventory as of April 2012 fell to 1.5 million units, representing a supply of four months. This was a 14.8 percent drop from April 2011, when shadow inventory stood at 1.8 million units, or a six-months’ supply, which is approximately the same level as the country was experiencing in October 2008.
…
“Since peaking at 2.1 million units in January 2010, the shadow inventory has fallen by 28 percent. The decline in the shadow inventory is a positive development because it removes some of the downward pressure on house prices,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “This is one of the reasons why some markets that were formerly identified as deeply distressed, like Arizona, California and Nevada, are now experiencing price increases.”
…
CoreLogic estimates the current stock of properties in the shadow inventory, also known as pending supply, by calculating the number of distressed properties that are seriously delinquent, in foreclosure and held as real estate owned (REO) by mortgage servicers but not currently listed on multiple listing services (MLSs).
…
Of the 1.5 million properties currently in the shadow inventory, 720,000 units are seriously delinquent, 410,000 are in some stage of foreclosure, and 390,000 are already in REO.
Just hoping they don’t end up with a huge “flyover” ramp way up in the air that is an eyesore and creates additional freeway noise for neighboring area. I thought the mock ups of the 5 options were confusing.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist11/Env_docs/I5_SR56/DEIR.html
Following is a video done for the direct connection option which was very easy to see how it would work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T96HFs-CBk
The meeting was sparsely attended because most everybody by now knows CalTrans doesn’t care what their customers (taxpayers, drivers, local residents) think.
I’ve told them Westbound SR56 at the on ramp from Carmel Valley road tends to get congested every weekday morning starting at around 7:20AM. See for yourself every weekday morning at http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist11/d11tmc/sdmap/showmap.php .
The problem seems to be the on-ramp length isn’t as long as the other entrance ramps on westbound SR56 making it difficult for two entering cars to both get up to speed and merge without disrupting traffic.
As the amount of cars waiting at the metering lights looks small, I asked they consider changing the sign to allow one car per green light rather than two cars to keep traffic flowing on westbound SR56.
CalTrans said go away, you don’t know what you’re talking about, we’re not going to even try anything with the ramp lights or timing to make traffic flow better.
Thanks Dan and I agree.
There are some obvious things they could do to make traffic flow better, and if us novices can figure them out, it makes you wonder what their motives are. (is that too suspicious?)