CA 52 Extension to open March 26

[citrus]

From the San Diego Union Tribune: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/02/grand-opening-set-for-completed-santee-freeway/

This $447M extension is 4-lane freeway from CA 125 to CA 67, with a local interchange or two in between. Construction started in 2008.

[Alex]

Several road enthusiasts are going to attend the grand opening. I am not sure who on the forum is going though, but here is the info on the opening:

http://www.keepsandiegomoving.com/SR-52-Corridor/SR52-intro.aspx

The SR 52 Extension through Santee into East County is scheduled to open to motorists on Saturday, March 26, 2011. The community is invited to a Grand Opening event on Saturday, March 19 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m on the freeway at the Cuyamaca Exit (nearest cross street Buena Vista Avenue).  See flyer on the right for more details.

[Quillz]

Cool, always nice when routes are extended as intended. Too often, planned extensions or improvements get blocked by NIMBYs.

[mgk920]

What's the prognosis on any potential northward extension of CA 125?

Mike

[oscar]

Several road enthusiasts are going to attend the grand opening. I am not sure who on the forum is going though, but here is the info on the opening:

http://www.keepsandiegomoving.com/SR-52-Corridor/SR52-intro.aspx

Off chance I can attend -- I used to live in San Diego, and still have family there who I haven't seen for awhile, so I have other excuses for a quick cross-country weekend trip to San Diego.

If I do attend the grand opening for pedestrian/bike traffic, I'll want to do the "walk" option specified in the website's flyer (no bike, can't run).  I guess there will be a less-than-grand opening for motor traffic the following weekend.

When more details are available from whoever's organizing it, I'll watch for them here and also in the Road Enthusiasts Meetings forum.

As I noted over on m.t.r., I'm potentially game for road meets in California, schedule permitting and also with enough advance notice to snag a decent airfare.

[Interstate Trav]

From the San Diego Union Tribune: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/02/grand-opening-set-for-completed-santee-freeway/

This $447M extension is 4-lane freeway from CA 125 to CA 67, with a local interchange or two in between. Construction started in 2008.

Thats cool.

[oscar]

Several road enthusiasts are going to attend the grand opening. I am not sure who on the forum is going though, but here is the info on the opening:

http://www.keepsandiegomoving.com/SR-52-Corridor/SR52-intro.aspx

Off chance I can attend -- I used to live in San Diego, and still have family there who I haven't seen for awhile, so I have other excuses for a quick cross-country weekend trip to San Diego.

Turns out I'll be in the San Diego area at least for that morning.  I can get together with the local road enthusiasts (I might know some of them, from previous collaborations) if they're planning to attend the grand opening as a group, even if that isn't going to turn into a full-fledged road meet.

[Alps]

Just in time. I'll be there a few weeks after it opens and actually get to drive it. Didn't even know it was forthcoming.

[rschen7754]

http://www.rschen7754.com/roadphotos/main.php?cmd=album&var1=United_States%2FCalifornia%2FSR+52/ - pictures from today's opening.

[Interstate Trav]

What's the prognosis on any potential northward extension of CA 125?

Mike

Right now probably really far off, between the budget problems of California and the communities along the corridor, but as the 15 becomes  more and more congested it might become a bit more possible.

[oscar]

http://www.rschen7754.com/roadphotos/main.php?cmd=album&var1=United_States%2FCalifornia%2FSR+52/ - pictures from today's opening.

I just got back from my short trip to southern California, which started with a few hours at the grand opening festivities.

They were very well-attended.  The organizers had 3500 T-shirts to give out (nice of them to offer a choice of sizes, rather than just giving everyone XL), and used hand-stamps to limit the handouts to one per person.  The T-shirts ran out in the first two hours of the festivities.  Lots of comments on how the pedestrian congestion that day, in the three eastbound lanes where the booths and most other facilities were set up, was a sign of how congested the extension could be after the highway is opened to motor traffic.

[agentsteel53]

3500 people showed up???  there are 3500 roadgeeks in the San Diego area? 

how many of them want to buy a highway sign?

[oscar]

3500 people showed up???  there are 3500 roadgeeks in the San Diego area? 

how many of them want to buy a highway sign?

This looked like a very non-roadgeek crowd.  Lots of families, many with baby strollers.  Perhaps largely from the Santee area to be served by the extension, though there was an organized run/walk that might've broadened the draw.  Maybe some were there to listen to the musical entertainment (including some local marching bands), or gaze at the beauty queens wandering through the crowd, rather than admire the new stretch of freeway. 

I didn't notice any obvious roadgeeks in the crowd, nor did any of them seem to notice me (I wore my Alaska 50th anniversay T-shirt, and baseball cap from the late Hawaii Superferry, just in case).

[myosh_tino]

3500 sounds about right.  The Saturday before California 85 opened back in 1994, the cities of Cupertino, Saratoga, Campbell/Los Gatos and San Jose all held grand opening celebrations featuring food and games on the still unopened freeway.  These celebrations also allowed pedestrians and cyclists to travel the entire 12-mile length of freeway.  Cupertino also held a parade at their end of the freeway and I would guess that at least 3000 people were on the freeway.

I distinctly remember that day because I rode my bike from the Stevens Creek Blvd exit in Cupertino down to the CA-17 interchange in Los Gatos.  The ride down to CA-17 was a breeze literally because there was a stiff wind at my back.  Unfortunately, the ride back to Cupertino was a bear because that nice tail wind turned into a hellish head wind.  At least that forced me to stop frequently so I could take pictures (hmmm... gotta see if I can find them).

[Chris]

$ 400-something million for 2.5 miles of freeway? Wow. They didn't anticipate this freeway when they developed Santee? The area looks fairly new. (post freeway boom).

[brad2971]

While $400 million-plus sounds rather expensive for just 2.5 miles of freeway, keep in mind that included in the cost were two directional interchanges (at CA-67 and CA-125). Not to mention that if you look at the interchange with CA-67, it's above a major arterial street

I was there last weekend for the freeway ribbon cutting, and I have to say that they must be expecting at least 50K VPD if Caltrans is installing ramp meters @Cuyamaca St

[J N Winkler]

$400 million is indeed a lot for two and a half miles of freeway.  But the actual construction cost (per Keep San Diego Moving) is $255 million.  That is more or less in line with what I remember of contracting for SR 52--two contracts in the slightly-over-$100 million range.  (BTW, I think the construction plans are still online:  the contract numbers involved are 11-2T0004, covering the SR 52/SR 67 interchange, and 11-2T0104, covering the Magnolia Ave. and Cuyamaca St. exits.  The signing plans are pattern-accurate and therefore tasty.)  I think the $447 million cost quoted in the newspaper article includes right-of-way acquisition.

[mapman]

I was there last weekend for the freeway ribbon cutting, and I have to say that they must be expecting at least 50K VPD if Caltrans is installing ramp meters @Cuyamaca St

Ramp meters are standard protocol for Caltrans at interchanges in urban or suburban areas.  Most of the time, they will not be powered until well in the future.  It's usually cheaper to install all of the equipment at initial construction than try to retrofit it later.

[Alps]

Ramp meters are standard protocol for Caltrans at interchanges in urban or suburban areas.  Most of the time, they will not be powered until well in the future.  It's usually cheaper to install all of the equipment at initial construction than try to retrofit it later.

Eh wot? No, it's cheaper to install only the minimum needed - conduits, foundations. Leave out the poles, you can probably leave out the wiring, certainly any type of control cabinet. Those things can be installed in a snap provided that you built the underground stuff.

[myosh_tino]

Ummm... I think ramp metering in urban/suburban areas is standard practice in California now-a-days.  If the meters are not activated right away, it's probably because it allows Caltrans to study traffic patterns after the new freeway opens.  Because the meters are install, it means they will be activated at some point in the not-so-distant future.

When CA-85 opened between Stevens Creek Blvd and Almaden Expwy in south San Jose, all on-ramps were metered and all meters were activated the day the freeway opened to traffic.  This included freeway-to-freeway ramp meters at the 85/17 interchange and the north 101 to north 85 ramp in south San Jose.

[mapman]

That and because the ramps have to be wider to accommodate all of the queued vehicles.  For example, a standard on-ramp may only be one lane, but a metered ramp is at least two lanes, in order to provide a second lane for queued vehicles (or sometimes for an HOV bypass lane).  Because that requires more space, its easier to incorporate it into the initial design than to widen it later.

An example of this is an interchange project I was involved with last year.  Caltrans required that metering lights be installed but not turned on as part of the project, and that the ramps be designed to accommodate queued vehicles.  This interchange was in a town of 9,000 people in a largely agricultural area.  (Although at the time, the town expected to more than double in population over the next 20 years.)

[citrus]

Got a chance to check out the new extension today. It was nice and new and shiny.

A few remarks: according to the news, Caltrans is expecting about 75,000 VPD on this new stretch. Ramp meters were not on today, but rush hour may be a different story at some point in the near future. There were ramp meters on the freeway-to-freeway SB 67 -> WB 52 ramp.

Comments on any news articles about this CA 52 extension tend to be quite negative. Many people are complaining that the ramp from 125 NB to 52 WB is a severe bottleneck as the 2 lanes from 52, 2 lanes from 125, and the Mission Gorge on-ramp converge to 2 lanes west of the interchange. (Widening 52 west of 125 would be a pretty serious undertaking, requiring rebuilding bridges.) I'm not sure why that ramp is so critical; it seems like I-8 -> I-805 would be a more direct commuter option between the 8/125 interchange and the 52/805 interchange. Perhaps it will take a few weeks for people to get used to new possibilities. The real beneficiaries of this freeway extension are people commuting westward from Santee and points north (via 67) or east (via I-8 and 67).

Also: no control cities of any kind on the extension or the ramps from 125 or 67. Not sure they would be useful; everyone seems to refer to the entire area as "San Diego" anyways....

[rschen7754]

What confuses me is ramp signals on freeway-to-freeway connectors.

[agentsteel53]

or traffic lights in general.  see 5@78, 5@56, 15@56 and probably others. 

not to mention the 5 SB to 52 west (into La Jolla) connection, which does not have a direct ramp - you're supposed to magically know to take the La Jolla Village Dr. exit a mile and a half north on I-5.

[NE2]

Since the west end of SR 52 is at I-5, why would one expect signs for SR 52 west at the La Jolla Village Drive exit?