6 Lanes or 8 Lanes on the I-215?

Is six lanes on the I-215 enough?

That's what CalTrans is planning for the I-215 between Nuevo Rd in Perris all the way south to the I-15 interchange to six lanes. Three lanes each way.

Is that enough?

Considering the fact that the California State Department of Finance predicts Riverside County to become the second largest county in the state by mid-century, and the fact that much of the population increase is expected to reside from Perris to Murrieta, it seems like we need more lanes than that. How about eight lanes or ten lanes?

My guess is that CalTrans may be able to widen the I-215 to six lanes by utilizing the center median and shoulders. On the other hand, eight lanes may require rebuilding all of the overpasses.

But here's the thing. Pretty much all of the overpasses along this stretch of the I-215 needs to be widened anyways. 4th Street, McCall, Newport, Scott, and Clinton Keith, are all insufficient given today's traffic problems, and not even taking into account the future Countryside Marketplace on Newport and future Wal-Mart on Scott. If they have to widen these overpasses anyways, they may as well design them to stretch over eight lanes of the I-215.

But I'm sure it always comes down to money.

But then again, take a look at the 91 freeway going through Corona. That thing has 10 lanes and is still not enough.

Construction to widen the I-215 won't begin until 2010, and may not complete until 2012. The Newport Rd overpass is supposedly being widen even further sometime in 2011.

Read more about this subject at The Californian, here...
http://www.nctimes.com/..../8_22_427_11_07.txt