Clinton Keith, I-215 work begins

By: LAURA MITCHELL - Staff Writer

MURRIETA ---- Seven months after a project was halted to prevent disruption of the breeding cycle of an endangered songbird, a contractor has begun widening ramps and installing a second traffic signal on Clinton Keith Road west of Interstate 215.

The project was held up in February by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials, who said the area was a prime breeding ground for California gnatcatchers. The addition of the second set of signals should help ease much of the before- and after-school traffic crunch at the interchange near Vista Murrieta High School, city officials say.

Earlier this year the project contractor, Vance Corp. of Rialto, added a signal and widened the onramps and offramps on the east side of the interchange. The contractor was not allowed to do any work on the west side until the end of August, when the breeding season for the gnatcatcher is over.

"The environmental hurdles have been conquered," Murrieta traffic engineer Mick Bartholomew said last week.

City officials contended from the beginning that there were no gnatcatchers in the area and that the project shouldn't be held up. In July, a biologist hired by the city to look for gnatcatchers over the summer reported no sign of the birds. Fish and Wildlife officials would not rescind their order and the project remained stalled until breeding season was over.

Now that the work has begun, Vance project manager Mark Hickman said he estimates it will be completed in two or three months.

The improvements are hoped to alleviate bottlenecks at the interchange, which has a single lane each direction. Cars and construction trucks back up on each side of the freeway during peak school hours. Vista Murrieta High is just east of the freeway on Clinton Keith and several large housing developments are being built on both sides of the freeway.

The delay has cost the city. A road improvement contract was originally awarded to Vance for $724,050. The delay has added to the project's price, which is now more than $1 million, Hickman said.

The project should not interfere with existing traffic since all the work is being done to the side of the road, Bartholomew said.

"They can do the work off to the side. No permanent lane closures will be required for this," he said.

The signals and ramp widening is an interim improvement to the interchange. The city is planning long-range improvements that include widening the Clinton Keith bridge over the freeway and possibly redesigning the onramps and offramps.

The long-range improvements are not expected to start until 2008 and construction is estimated to cost $15 million, City Engineer Jim Kinley said.

Kinley recently told the Planning Commission there's no guarantee that the city could use the existing bridge to handle traffic while a new bridge is being constructed, but California Department of Transportation spokeswoman Rose Melgoza said the city should be able to build half the new bridge while maintaining traffic on the other half.

The city would address it's plan to reroute traffic in its environmental document for the project. Caltrans would then approve or make recommendations to the city's plan, Melgoza said.

Contact staff writer Laura Mitchell at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or lmitchell@californian.com.

California Department of Transportation