A ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony for the California Oaks Road/Interstate 15 Interchange has been announced.
All public and businesses are welcome to attend the event. It will take place from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday Sept. 13 in the Cal Oaks Plaza Shopping Center parking lot.
Work on the interchange began in winter 2011, and was expected to be compete by August of this year.
Motorists have been enjoying the use of the new on- and off-ramps for some weeks now, as well as the widened roadway beneath the overpass.
"The majority of the roadwork is done," Murrieta City Engineer Pat Thomas told Patch.
"They are going to reseal and re-stripe it again, but that will be done at night," Thomas said.
Landscaping has also already been budgeted for he said, and that work should begin soon.
The project cost the city at least $11.13 million through its contract with Granite Construction. The funds for the project were allotted to the city through the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).
Another $515,000 was needed
However, the grand opening ceremony still falls within days of the estimated completion date.
Ribbon cutting is an absolute waste of money and time.
This is not just another overpass connector road. There was a lot of work required in the planning, the design, acquiring the additional land, and acquiring the funding from a variety of sources. There are many places you will see in other communities where the interchanges should have been improved years ago, even decades ago, but it never was done. Part of the planning included keeping both the freeway and California Oaks Open to traffic almost the whole time. Moving the southbound freeway off ramp west to line up with Madison was a clever innovation. That will allow better flow off the freeway ramp and eliminate one red/green light for flow both ways on Cal Oaks IN ADDITION to the signals eliminated by the cloverleaf access ramps versus the former left turns on to the on ramps. This along with the increased number of lanes on Cal Oaks under the freeway will certainly improve traffic flow and safety. All those concerned with all the efforts to get this task started and finished should have our thanks. They are entitled to have this ceremony.