City report: Start of Holland Overpass more than a year away

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The Holland Road Overpass project is still more than a year away from the start of construction and is $8 million short of the necessary funding, according to city documents released last week.

In an update on Capital Improvement Projects in the City of Menifee, principal engineer Carlos Geronimo told Menifee City Council members last Wednesday that current funding for the project is $20.7 million. Total estimated cost of the project is $28.7 million, leaving an $8 million shortfall.

That, and ongoing negotiations to purchase the last parcel of land needed for the project right of way, is the reason the projected start of construction is now listed as April 2022. Estimated completion date is October 2023.

Geronimo’s presentation stated that the 2021-22 budget is projected to include an additional $9.9 million for the project, including $6 million from Riverside County through Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fees (TUMF). The bridge will be an overpass at the 215 Freeway and will not be an interchange with freeway ramps, but it is expected to relieve congestion on the two streets with the nearest freeway interchanges – Newport Road and Scott Road.

The Holland Road Overpass has been a hot topic in Menifee since 2012, when mayoral candidate Scott Mann used the campaign slogan “Build Holland First”, which turned out to be an impossibility, according to city and county officials who said expanded interchanges at Newport Road and Scott Road took regional priority. Ever since, the project has been the subject of revised cost and funding totals.

When it’s finally built, the bridge will have two lanes in each direction. Heading west, Holland Road will rise above Antelope Road to cross over the freeway.