County resolves to pursue federal and state funding
By JEFF ROWE - Staff Writer | Thursday, March 26, 2009

Northbound traffic stacks up on Interstate 215 north of the Murrieta Hot Springs overpass. The Riverside County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution this week calling for more federal and state money to improve I-215 as well as I-15. (Photo by Don Boomer - Staff Photographer)

RIVERSIDE ---- The Riverside County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution this week calling for "substantial" federal and state funds to improve Interstates 215 and 15.

That was the easy part.

Securing more money for the two freeways that define transportation in Southwest County will be a difficult task at a time when the state budget is shrinking and federal funding is being focused on reviving the economy.

But the authors of the resolution ---- Supervisors Bob Buster and Marion Ashley ---- say this resolution reflects a different approach to past pleadings for funds. Rather than compete with San Bernardino County for state and federal money, the two supervisors are meeting with their counterparts to the north and working to present a united front in seeking financing for transportation projects.

"Jointly, we will do better getting funding than if we were asking alone," said Supervisor Bob Buster, whose 1st District encompasses most of the city of Riverside and stretches close to the San Bernardino line.

Ashley agreed.

"We are one empire," he said, referring to the "Inland Empire" moniker that refers to both counties. His district extends from Moreno Valley to the San Bernardino County line.

Ashley said he and Buster have met informally with two San Bernardino County supervisors and plan further meetings to find common approaches to problems that challenge both counties.

Highest on the joint list of challenges is relieving the early morning and late-afternoon traffic congestion on area freeways.

In seeking federal and state money, both Ashley and Buster agree on a list of priorities:

-- Smoothing traffic integration at the confluence of I-215 and I-15;
-- Widening the rest of I-215;
-- Widening I-215 between Riverside and San Bernardino;
-- Improving traffic flow at the Devore junction of I-215 and I-15.

In their resolution, the supervisors also cite the need for a new French Valley Parkway interchange just south of the junction of the two freeways in Murrieta.

"Sustained federal, state and local investment in the entire Interstate 215 corridor between Murrieta and San Bernardino is ... vital to the regional's economic health and future," the resolution states.

Meanwhile, traffic growth on the two freeways has been dramatic.

For example, in 1997, an average of 77,000 cars and trucks daily traveled I-15 at Clinton Keith Road. A decade later, that daily traffic had grown to 131,000 vehicles.

Traffic expansion was equally strong on I-215. In 1997, an average of 81,000 cars and trucks passed the Van Buren Boulevard interchange in Riverside. By 2007, that number had grown to 121,000 vehicles per day.

Every weekday morning, the freeways are stuffed with thousands of cars.

"The I-15 and (Highway) 91 interchange is horrible," said Cal Brunsting of Wildomar, who treks to Anaheim every day to his job as a quality engineer for a defense contractor. Brunsting is on the road before most of the traffic build-up, but he also avoids the I-15-Highway 91 interchange by taking another route to intercept the 91 farther west.

As much as he would like to see greater capacity on 15/91, Brunsting says he knows traffic on I-215 is worse and he recognizes that freeway is in greater need of expansion.

Traffic on both freeways should improve in coming months as a system of sensors allows California Department of Transportation engineers at the traffic management center in San Bernardino to better manage traffic flow and guide drivers around jams. The project is expected to be complete by June.

Contact staff writer Jeff Rowe at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or jrowe@californian.com.