Project to improve interchange of 15-215 freeways approved

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.

Much to the relief of those who frequent the bottleneck that is that interchange, there are big changes in the works. The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a "freeway agreement" with Caltrans allowing a $324 million interchange improvement project to move forward.

"The intent of the project is to ease traffic through that interchange and reduce congestion on I-15 and I-215," said Shelli Lombardo, a Caltrans spokeswoman.

That will happen by adding one lane to the northbound and southbound I-15, which will expand the freeway from three to four continuous lanes of traffic.

The project is also expected to improve safety with a truck bypass lane eliminating the need for slower moving trucks to weave through faster moving vehicles.

The freeway project is already generating excitement for some frequent weekend road trip warriors.

"It is going to be awesome, I travel to Vegas every now and then and the drive there is not good at all. I get bumper to bumper all the time so when they widen it up, I'll get there faster," said Hasib Azhand of San Bernardino.

But it will be a while before that can happen. The project is expected to take four years to complete. That means traffic delays may get worse before they can get better.

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