Plans set for speedy I-5 fix

The biggest freeway fix in Sacramento history, due to tangle traffic downtown and beyond starting this spring, will be a dramatically shorter disruption than originally expected.

Caltrans officials are expected to announce today a last-minute strategy change that will allow them to repair the crumbling freeway in just 60 days, far fewer than the initial 300-day projection.

There is, however, a downside: During those two months, Interstate 5 will be partially closed, and the work may cause some of the worst traffic jams the Sacramento region has seen.

Caltrans chief Will Kempton is expected to announce the new plan today. He'll be joined by the plan's architect, contractor C.C. Myers of Rancho Cordova – the builder with Bunyanesque renown for his dramatic fixes of troubled freeways.

Myers declined comment prior to today's announcement. Caltrans officials also refused to discuss their plan, except to say they are pleased they may be able to handle the long-planned repair more cheaply and easily.

"It's going to be a bold plan," state Department of Transportation spokesman Mark Dinger said. "We think the public will be pleased."

Work is scheduled to begin in late May, after the rainy season, Dinger said.

Workers will replace the 38-year-old roadbed on 1 1/2 miles of the freeway between Richards Boulevard on the north and the Capital City Freeway interchange to the south.

The freeway's "boat section," which sits below the level of the Sacramento River, has sprung leaks and will be a focal point of repairs. Workers will replace pumps and silted drain pipes under the roadbed.

Officials said they intend to keep the freeway open into downtown during the project but plan lane and ramp closures. They refused to say if they will close all northbound or southbound lanes at any point.

Myers won the construction contract last month by stating he could do the job in just 114 days, and by offering a price – $27 million – substantially lower than Caltrans' expectations.

Myers reportedly came back to Caltrans officials in recent weeks with an even faster schedule involving more aggressive traffic controls and new road materials.

Caltrans officials say their engineers are reviewing the plan but believe it is doable. The agency was still conducting tests last week on some materials Myers proposes using to make sure they meet durability standards.

The speeded-up schedule is nothing new for Myers. His company made headlines after the 1994 Northridge earthquake when it rebuilt part of the Santa Monica Freeway in seven weeks, half the expected time. The company added to its reputation last year when it rebuilt a section of the MacArthur Maze freeway in Oakland ahead of schedule after it was destroyed in a tanker fire.

Myers also teamed with Caltrans on a historic Labor Day weekend closure of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge last year to install a new road section, again beating the deadline.

The Interstate 5 job will be Myers' biggest project locally.

It also could produce some of the biggest traffic jams Sacramento has seen.

Some 190,000 commuters, commercial truckers and other travelers vie daily for lane space on I-5 between Richards Boulevard and the Highway 50 junction.

Caltrans officials recently placed signboards on freeways warning commuters about the project and are devising detour routes they hope long-distance drivers will use instead of coming through the construction area.

The main detour for through traffic on I-5 involves using other freeways through Yolo County north and south of downtown.

Traffic projections indicate the project will cause traffic slowdowns on almost every freeway entering the metropolitan area, as well as on city streets.

Caltrans freeway manager Jim Calkins said the region's typical 3 1/2-hour morning commute could stretch to more than five hours as commuters leave earlier or later to avoid the worst traffic.

He said the agency is still working on its traffic flow analysis, in light of the new strategy.

"When the smoke clears, we'll have a much better idea of the impacts and how to control them," Calkins said.

Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson was briefed last week by Caltrans and said the bottlenecks may not be as bad as some fear.

"When we have these huge predictions of traffic nightmares, people take that to heart and they make alternative arrangements and the result is it often works pretty smoothly," he said. "Let's hope that's the case here."

Sacramento city officials say they may ask Caltrans for $300,000 to help them manage street congestion during the project, including possible installation of temporary traffic signals on streets near freeway ramps, and putting traffic officers with flags on the street.

"Generally, we know the central city will be impacted," spokeswoman Linda Tucker said, "but it's been a moving target. We can't say until we see what they are unveiling" today.

The Sacramento Transportation Management Association and other agencies are publicizing a van and carpool Web site – www.sacramento-tma.org – as part of a "Beat the Creep" push in the weeks before construction starts.

"Nobody knows exactly how bad it is going to be," said Patrick Kelly, commute coordinator for the state controller's office. "Not until it starts."

If even handfuls of employees begin showing up 15 minutes late each day, "that racks up after a while, so it is something we are concerned about," he said.

Sacramento business owners, meanwhile, say they want to get the word out that stores and restaurants will be open in downtown during the project.

Michael Ault, director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership business association, said his group also is asking Caltrans for money to help deliver that message.

"Just because there is construction (on I-5), people need to know there are other ways to get into town," Ault said.

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