'Open House' will give update on Scott Road Interchange

An architectural rendering shows the proposed design of the new Scott Road Interchange, looking south.

City of Menifee officials will host an “Open House” Aug. 30 to provide residents with an update on the Scott Road freeway interchange, which is scheduled to begin construction next month.

The event will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. at Revival Church, 29220 Scott Road, which is just down the street from where the bridge will be constructed at the 215 Freeway. There will be an opportunity to view project plans and discuss them with project experts.

Menifee City Council member Matt Liesemeyer recently posted information about the project on his Facebook page. Amenities he mentioned are the following:

-- Northbound on-ramp will be re-aligned and widened to three lanes with HOV metering.

-- New northbound off-ramp loop will provide continuous movement to traffic traveling westbound on Scott Road.

-- Widening and realignment of existing northbound off-ramp, dedicated to eastbound traffic onto Scott Road.

-- New Southbound on-ramp loop will provide freeway access for traffic traveling westbound on Scott Road.

-- Widening of existing southbound on-ramp dedicated to traffic traveling eastbound on Scott Road.

-- Widening and realigning of existing southbound off-ramp.

City officials announced earlier this month that final approval had been received from Caltrans to move forward with the project. That good news followed a previous warning that the project was facing a delay.

Jonathan Smith, city engineer and public works director, said in June that the start of construction had been pushed back to the end of August and could be delayed further. His comments were made prior to the City Council's approval June 22 of a five-year Capital Improvement Plan for city infrastructure.

Challenges in acquiring funding and a re-design of the $57 million project resulted in years of delays, but those problems appeared to be solved last July, when city officials announced that all funding was in place and the new design of the six-lane bridge project over the 215 Freeway was completed. At that time, start of construction was estimated to be the spring of 2018.

Smith said that bids were solicited from contractors and the apparent low bidder was selected. It was determined that the bidder didn't meet Department of Transportation guidelines that 11 percent of the contract help qualify as Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, however. A DBE is defined by the Department of Transportation as "a small business owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals."

"The County reviewed the bid and determined that the bidder had made a good faith effort to meet the DBE goals," Smith said. "However, Caltrans did not agree and sent it back to the County to work with the second lowest bidder."

That problem has now been resolved. According to Liesemeyer, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors gave its approval of amendments to the project at its July 31 meeting.