LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced today that work is scheduled to begin this summer on a $679 million project to improve a 14-mile corridor of the Golden State (5) Freeway in the Santa Clarita area.
Crews will add an HOV lane in each direction, create two-mile truck lane extensions, improve auxiliary lanes at multiple locations and replace the Weldon Canyon Bridge. L.A. Metro hopes to make the freeway safer by removing trucks from the general-purpose lanes and adding additional merging space.
The I-5 North County Enhancement Project is designed to accommodate expected growth in the Santa Clarita area. The population of the third-largest city in Los Angeles County is expected to increase by more than 25,000 people by 2035, according to Metro.
The project, which is managed by Metro and Caltrans, will be funded through Measure R and Measure M dollars specifically set aside for road and highway projects, as well as federal dollars and SB1, or the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
The Metro Board of Directors approved the $679 million life-of-project budget during its meeting on Thursday. Crews are expected to break ground in early summer and complete the project in 2026.
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