Federal stimulus money could spur start of project
By JEFF ROWE - Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Californian

RIVERSIDE ---- Barring an unforeseen obstacle in Sacramento, federal funding for a widening of the Clinton Keith Road bridge spanning I-215 in Murrieta could be allocated by state transportation officials as early as Thursday.

If so, work to expand the bridge from two lanes to six lanes could begin as early as late April.

The bridge, which is often congested with traffic, is the primary route for students and parents who are headed to Vista Murrieta High School on the east side of the city.

Still to be determined is how much federal and Measure A funds will be available for the project. Measure A is the half-cent sales tax devoted to transportation.

"One way or another, Clinton Keith is going to get funded," said John Standiford, deputy executive director of the Riverside County Transportation Commission.

On Wednesday, the commission approved priorities for state and federal funding and the Clinton Keith project topped the list of five projects. Other projects in western Riverside County on the list include the Valley Way interchange on Highway 60 and the Van Buren Boulevard interchange on Highway 91. Bridges and onramps will be expanded at both locations.

Bids for the Clinton Keith project are scheduled to be opened by Murrieta city staff April 9; the City Council then is expected to award the contract at the April 21 meeting.

"I would expect work to begin within days of that," said Rick Gibbs, the Murrieta council member who represents the city on the county's transportation commission.

Work on the project is expected to take about 18 months and it likely will cost less than the $35 million originally estimated, Gibbs said. That's because builders have been lowering bids in the slow economy. Gibbs cited a recent bridge project in the city that was bid at 30 percent lower than expected.

With just one lane traveling each direction across the bridge, there are often traffic backups. And those backups are destined to worsen if plans advance to extend Clinton Keith east to French Valley. In addition, Clinton Keith will be the primary access from the south to the Loma Linda University Medical Center-Murrieta hospital that is now under construction in the city.

Those factors ---- along with the project's "shovel ready" status ---- helped propel the Clinton Keith bridge expansion to the top of the county's priority list. A requirement for federal stimulus projects is that contracts must be approved on projects funded with stimulus money within 120 days of stimulus bill's signing last month.

Depending on how the state commission allocates federal stimulus money, the county should get between $35 million and $70 million, county transportation commission officials say. Clarity on how much the county can expect in federal funding could come Thursday, when votes are tallied at a meeting of the California Transportation Commission in Sacramento. However, the county transportation commission says approval is likely a week or two away.

On Wednesday, the state commission approved 57 maintenance projects totalling $625 million, all to come from federal stimulus funding.

Among the projects approved:

-- $1.1 million for Interstate 15 in and near Corona between Temescal Canyon Road to about a half-mile south of Ontario Avenue.

-- $1.8 million for Highway 243 near Idyllwild from a mile north of the intersection of Highway 74 to Cedar Glen Drive, and from Mountain View Drive to about a mile south of the Lake Fulmor Bridge.