Groundbreaking signals start of Scott Road Interchange

City and regional dignitaries take part in the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Scott Road Interchange project. Menifee 24/7 photos: Doug Spoon

Local and regional officials gathered Thursday to celebrate the groundbreaking of the next major project in the City of Menifee's Capital Improvement Projects plan -- the Scott Road Interchange.

Ten years in the making and following numerous delays in securing funding, the $57.8 million project will include a new Scott Road bridge over the 215 Freeway, built just north of the current bridge and expanded to six lanes. The interchange will include a partial cloverleaf ramp design, with looping on- and off-ramps. When completed -- an estimated 18 months from now -- the project will dramatically improve traffic circulation on the south end of the city.

"It's definitely a proud moment in Menifee today as we celebrate the start of this project," said Jonathan Smith, director of public works for the City of Menifee. "This interchange project will provide easier access to the freeway and improved traffic flow east and west on Scott Road. It will relieve the kind of congestion that many of you today know about."

The original plan for a bridge 11 lanes wide was modified to reduce cost and avoid problems with land acquisition on the south side of the current bridge, which includes business centers on both sides of the freeway. Even with the modifications, however, the final funding was not secured until voters approved the Measure DD 1 cent sales tax increase, which contributed $2.2 million to the project, along with a $15 million contribution from Riverside County.

"It's a historic day for Menifee," Mayor Bill Zimmerman said to a crowd gathered for the ceremony. "Menifee is 10 years old, and what a birthday present this is for the city. We've experienced wonderful mobility improvements from the Newport Road project. The Scott Road project will be just as much of an improvement as Newport Road is.

"Menifee is one of the fastest growing cities in Southern California. It's the third fastest growing city in Riverside County. When you think about growth and how many vehicles are going to be on the road with all the homes that are coming, we need to have our infrastructure in place to handle all the growth that's coming."

Many agencies have been involved in the planning and funding of the project, including Caltrans, the Riverside County Transportation Commission and Western Riverside Council of Governments. Many of those organizations were represented at Thursday's ceremony. In addition to Smith, Zimmerman and City Council members Lesa Sobek and Matt Liesemeyer, speakers included County Supervisors Marion Ashley and Chuck Washington; David Bricker, deputy district director of environmental planning for Caltrans District 8; and John Standiford, deputy director of RCTC.

Also present were officials from the City of Murrieta, whose boundaries include the southeast corner of the interchange project.

Preliminary work has already begun with restriping of freeway lanes, placement of K-rail and installation of temporary electrical lines. This is resulting in some lane closures, which will be updated by the City and announced here. Thursday morning, crews were clearing a grove of trees near the southeast corner of Scott Road and Antelope Road in preparation for the wider approach to the new bridge. The new bridge will be completed just to the north of the current bridge, allowing traffic to continue on the old bridge during construction.

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.