Countywide : Bid Accepted for Major Freeway Job

Kasler Corp., a general contractor based in Highland in San Bernardino County, on Friday submitted the low bid of $67.8 million for the right to rebuild the intersection of the Costa Mesa and Santa Ana freeways.

The three-year project is expected to begin in December once details of the contract are finalized, California Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Saville said Friday.

“It’s part of all the overall work we’re doing on the I-5, but it will be one of the biggest highway projects in the state,” Saville said.

During reconstruction of the interchange, connector ramps, freeway lanes and even some surface streets will have to be closed temporarily to allow construction of the extra lanes and wider bridges, Caltrans engineer Glenn Carver said.

“It’ll impact traffic, no doubt about it,” Carver said.

One of the first major closures will be the ramp from the northbound Santa Ana Freeway to the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway. The ramp will be closed for about a year as the Santa Ana Freeway bridge over the Costa Mesa is widened, he said. The southbound Santa Ana Freeway exit onto 4th Street will also be closed, but a temporary ramp to 1st Street will open to give motorists an off-ramp before Newport Boulevard.

Most other major closings will take place only on weekends to disrupt traffic as little as possible, Carver said.

The interchange project is part of an overall widening and improvements on both the Santa Ana and Costa Mesa freeways. The Santa Ana in Orange County is being widened from three lanes in each direction to five or six lanes, including car-pool lanes.

When the reconstruction is finished, motorists will have better connecting ramps as well as special car-pool lane connectors that will allow car pools to make the freeway transition without leaving the comfort of the diamond lane.

“We’ll improve the flow of traffic at the interchange considerably when it’s done,” Carver said. “As you know, it’s pretty congested now.”