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Caltrans Tackles Truck Bottlenecks
By Mike McManus, Director of Engineering Construction & Industry Relations
Truck bottlenecks across the country are exacerbating supply chain problems and are estimated to cost consumers billions yearly. According to The Road Information Program (TRIP), a national transportation research nonprofit, traffic congestion resulted in $94.6 billion in additional operational costs to the trucking industry in 2022 due to commercial trucks stuck in traffic for 1.3 billion hours.
Of the top ten truck bottlenecks in the country, three are just north of San Diego in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Those would be:
About 40% of the nation’s freight goes in and out of the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. All that freight moved by trucks travels to and from the ports on the I-710, and for the rest of the country, the trucks take I-10 or SR-60. These three bottlenecks cause a cumulative impact on the supply chains across the country. What is Caltrans doing about this major economic impact?
SR-60 / SR-57 Interchange in Diamond Bar
Since 2020, this stretch of freeway has been ranked the worst truck bottleneck in California and now the seventh worst truck bottleneck in the nation, as well as the second-highest truck accident location in Southern California.
The 57/60 Confluence Project is a three-phased program of improvements consisting of ramp and interchange reconfigurations as well as the addition of auxiliary collector/distributor and bypass lanes to significantly reduce the weaving and the resulting congestion and accidents, improve overall traffic flow, reduce accident rates, and alleviate the bottleneck effect this segment has on the operation of SR-57 and SR-60 and the region.
LA Metro and Caltrans started construction on this $440 million project in August 2022. The project is expected to be completed in July of 2028.
I-105 / I-710 Interchange in Los Angeles
After more than 15 years of planning, transportation agencies in California had to sideline the 710 Corridor project that would have expanded the 19-mile-long, southern portion of Interstate 710 between East Los Angeles and the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. This is one of the busiest heavy truck and commuter traffic corridors in the nation.
LA Metro and Caltrans began studying I-710 between East Los Angeles and the two ports to assess infrastructure improvement needs in 2005. According to the 2016 supplemental draft environmental impact statement, high levels of diesel particulate emissions, traffic congestion, high truck volumes, high accident rates, and outdated design features were causing elevated health risks along the corridor, originally designed and built in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, the freeway carries more than 200,000 vehicles a day.
Caltrans and LA Metro dropped the project after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rejected the planned improvements because of air pollution concerns. Metro and Caltrans have gone back to the drawing board. At this time, no improvements are planned for this major national truck bottleneck.
I-10 / I-15 Interchange in San Bernardino
The Interstate 10 (I-10) Corridor Freight and Managed Lane Project is a collaborative effort by the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority and Caltrans District 8 to improve efficiency, operations, and safety by adding express lanes to address a nationally significant freight bottleneck. The project extends from Pomona to Pepper Avenue in Colton. This $950 million project is under construction. It will construct express lanes in the median along the length of the project. It will also construct two auxiliary lanes and lengthen two acceleration lanes to improve truck operations and safety. The I-10/I-15 interchange is ranked the 10th most critical truck bottleneck in the U.S. by the American Transportation Research Institute.
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