More than 10 years in the planning SLO’s thorniest traffic bottleneck is slated to get a fix with construction of a widened freeway bridge starting next year.Construction bids for the Los Osos Valley Rd interchange at Hwy 101 are expected to go out around May of next year says Tim Bochum,deputy director of Public Works for the City of San Luis Obispo.
“Construction design work is now at 95%,far enough along to go to Cal Trans for checking.”
“We have identified the $23.1 million we need to do the project says Bochum, with $15 million in State Transportation Improvement Project funds budgeted for release by July 2014. “The remainder will come from local sources” says Bochum, including some $8.6 million contributed by the newer retail projects along LOVR corridor.
“They paid quite a bit already” he says, notably Costco who did the improvements to Calle Joaquin next to the interchange before they opened several years ago.
Bochum says the cost of the big bridge project from start to finish will be closer to $30 million but the city could get a pleasant surprise if the bidding climate remains “hungry” as it has been for the past few years.
“The sooner we go out to bid the better,” Bochum adds.Once the project is under way it’s likely to take 2 years of work or more depending on the weather.
“This project should have gone out to bid two years ago but the state was short on funds.”
Bochum notes that this busy part of the city connects both residents and visitors to the coast, serves as the access point from the west to the airport and So Higuera and in recent years has turned into the busiest retail district in town with big influx off the freeway.
“Were finally in the home stretch”says Bochum – to the relief of many locals. Still, construction tie ups will likely last a few more years – until 2016 when the project is completed.
Bochum says the city is also considering improving some local streets to increase circulation in this area including building a frontage road from Calle Joaquin to connect to Madonna and/or connecting LOVR to Madonna at Froom Ranch Rd.
Just how they will decide to cross the 131 acre Dalidio property will depend in part on what happens if and when a new buyer acquires the property. The land- now in the county- is said to be in escrow.