New I-15 Interchange Opens to Provide North City Traffic Relief

Another escape route for traffic-plagued Rancho Penasquitos and Mira Mesa communities opened late Thursday afternoon and will be christened with commuter traffic this morning.

The Mercy Road interchange with Interstate 15 provides another freeway access to the two fast-growing North City suburbs by way of a 1.2-mile link with Black Mountain Road, the major north-south connector between the two bedroom communities.

The Mercy Road interchange became infamous when California Highway Patrolman Craig Peyer strangled Cara Knott, a female San Diego State University student, near the unlighted cloverleaf. After the slaying, the interchange was blocked off until a development firm, Newland California, constructed the $10-million Mercy Road connector west to Black Mountain Road in exchange for building rights.

More than 1,000 Mira Mesa and Rancho Penasquitos residents celebrated the completion of the new arterial Aug. 5, but the interchange remained closed until Thursday to allow Caltrans time to install ramp metering signals on the on-ramps to regulate the flow of traffic onto busy I-15.

Mercy Road is expected to carry about 28,000 cars a day when improvements to Black Mountain Road are completed. The new freeway access road is expected to reduce traffic congestion on Mira Mesa Boulevard to the south and on Rancho Penasquitos Boulevard to the north.

Newland built the road as part of a $13-million public improvement requirement in return for development rights in Mira Mesa. Eventually, Mercy Road will be extended east of I-15 as South Poway Parkway, to be paid for by development firms as the eastern area is built up.