Holland Road freeway overpass scheduled to open Oct. 22

By Doug Spoon, Editor

A project that residents have been waiting for even longer than the ill-fated Krikorian Theater complex will finally reach the finish line next week.

The Holland Road Overpass, first promised to Menifee residents by Scott Mann during his campaign for mayor in 2012, will open to motorists by the end of the day next Tuesday, Oct. 22. The bridge will give residents a much-needed path across the 215 Freeway between the city’s two main east-west thoroughfares, Newport Road and Scott Road.

The bridge will expand Holland Road to four lanes heading over the freeway between Antelope Road and Haun Road. According to a City news release, the project includes bike lanes and sidewalks in each direction. It also includes such design features as a cobblestone rock blanket slope, decorative barrier rail and bridge lighting, and Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) retaining walls.

In addition, traffic signals are being added at the intersections of Hanover Lane to the east and Haun Road to the west. The Holland-Haun signals will be operational right away, but the Holland-Hanover signals will take some time to be energized, said Phil Southard, public information officer for the City of Menifee.

The project will not include on- and off-ramps to the freeway, however. By Caltrans standards, the overpass is located too close to the Newport Road interchange to allow that. But a future bridge at Garbani Road, already approved, will have freeway ramps.

"The Holland Road Overpass is a critical infrastructure project for our city that will alleviate traffic on Newport and Scott Roads and help reduce commute times for our local residents,” said Mayor Bill Zimmerman. “This project has been a long time coming for our community and we are so grateful to be here at the finish line.”

Mann’s campaign pledge of “Build Holland First” in 2012 was apparently made without consulting city and regional traffic officials. It soon became obvious that expansions of the bridges at Newport and Scott roads were considered a priority because of the heavy regional traffic load on those streets.

In a May 2013 public workshop, city consultant Shawn Nelson told City Council members and residents that ranking the Holland Road project behind Newport and Scott on the priority list was justified based on need, available funding and project readiness. The Holland Road Overpass sat on the drawing table while expanded interchanges were opened at Newport Road (in 2017) and Scott Road (in 2020).

The biggest obstacles to the Holland Road project during that time were cost and purchase of right-of-way property. Even with multiple funding sources, it took considerable time to generate the total cost, which turned out to be approximately $35 million. One boost to the project was the 2016 passage of Measure DD, which approved a one-cent sales tax to provide funding for public safety and infrastructure. That has contributed over $4 million to the project.

In addition, $10.25 million was funded through the Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee (TUMF) program administered by the Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG).

Construction of the project began in January 2023. According to the news release, the project includes over 20,000 square feet of retaining walls, 2,700 tons of asphalt, over 4,400 cubic yards of concrete, and over 900,000 pounds of rebar.