City reveals Scott Road details; groundbreaking Sept. 19

A large crowd filled a conference room at Revival Church Thursday night to hear details about the Scott Road Interchange. Menifee 24/7 photo: Doug Spoon

Project officials presented to a room full of Menifee residents Thursday night details on a road project that will significantly affect life in the city.

The Scott Road 215 Freeway Interchange, a $58 million project that will replace the aging two-lane freeway bridge with a six-lane bridge and partial cloverleaf ramp design, was described to residents by Jonathan Smith, public works director, and members of the construction team. The City also announced Thursday that a groundbreaking ceremony for the project will take place Sept. 19.

Bridge designs and details of the project funding have been reported several times on Menifee 24/7 in the last five years, but only recently was the project given a definite start date. A big part of that start-up was the the $2.2 million designated for the project from funds collected through the Measure DD tax increase approved by voters in 2016.

That, along with a $15 million contribution from Riverside County, provided the final funding needed, and Caltrans recently signed off on the project as well. City officials see the project as a necessity to improve traffic flow from east to west and to spur economic development in the south part of the city.

"This is a great opportunity for people to see exactly what the project's going to be," Mayor Bill Zimmerman said after the presentation, in which residents were able to view maps of phases of the project and ask questions. "We really appreciate Newport Road being completed and the dynamics there, and this is going to be the same thing. We'll endure a few growing pains through the process, but it will greatly improve our mobility from one side of the freeway to the other."

Like the Newport Road bridge project, the Scott Road Interchange will add lanes on the bridge and use two looping ramps to reduce the amount of turns needed by motorists. Unlike the Newport Interchange, in which one loop is north of the bridge and and other south of the bridge, both loops will be north of the Scott Road bridge because of land acquisition restrictions on the south side.

As the graphic below shows in an aerial view looking north, motorists driving west on Scott Road and wishing to head north on the freeway will still do so by an on-ramp near Antelope Road, but that ramp will be expanded and metered (1). Westbound motorists on Scott Road wishing to head south on the freeway will use a looping on-ramp (4), similar to that on the Newport Road interchange.

Motorists heading east on Scott Road and wishing to head north on the freeway must stop at a traffic signal before turning left onto ramp 1. Eastbound motorists can head south on the freeway through an expanded, metered version of the current on-ramp (5).

The second looping ramp (2) will be used as an off-ramp for northbound freeway motorists planning to head west on Scott Road. Northbound motorists exiting with plans to head east on Scott Road will take a separate off-ramp (3).

That split is designed to ease pressure on the current northbound off-ramp, especially in the afternoon and early evening hours.

The new bridge will be completed just to the north of the current bridge, allowing traffic to continue on the old bridge during construction. Residents will be given updates on freeway lane closures and other issues as they happen.

The project is estimated to be completed by spring 2020. The groundbreaking celebration will be held at the nearby Shops at Scott center at 9 a.m. Sept. 19.

For more information, call the Project Hotline at 951-215-2288.