For the last few weeks the work on the Grand Terrace 215 overpass has been underway with many travelers already seeing the delays that have been created by the work being done. The overpass project is estimated to cost nearly $105 million with several evenings of freeway closures to be scheduled throughout the build out timetable. As has been seen, the construction crews have demolished the southern part of the overpass, with traffic being shifted to the remaining part of the bridge while the new portion of the bridge is being constructed. After, the new portion of the bridge has been finished, traffic will then be moved to the new overpass and the rest of the old bridge will be destroyed. The work has been scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2020, with the new bridge being widened from one lane to two lanes, and lengthen to hopefully take care of any future expansion of the 215 freeway.
Oversized trucks going either way on the 215 freeway will be excited to know the new bridge will be one to two feet higher which will increase the clearance level for their load. This has been an increasing problem over the years, because several accidents have occurred because of the old bridge clearance level. Other roadway changes are the realignment of the freeway ramps, widening of Barton Road, and re configuring Vivienda Avenue, Michigan and Commerce Way. A big change will be occurring at the west end of the new bridge, where a roundabout will be installed to alleviate possible traffic flow issues coming from the southbound on and off ramps. The overall objective of these changes is to help the overall traffic flow coming and going into the city and surrounding areas. The new roundabout has already had questionable concerns from the citizenry about how effective it really will be. Time will tell and hopefully everyone gives it a fair shot.