Caltrans Adding Car Pool Lanes Through Carlsbad

The commute through North County will soon include two new carpool lanes in each direction on Interstate 5.

Caltrans announced Thursday construction is scheduled to begin in 2013 as long as the project gets approved by a variety of state and federal agencies.

Caltrans studied before selecting the one with the least impact on the environment and private property, said Allan Kosup, the director of the Interstate 5 corridor for the agency.

About 60 houses, multi-family residences and businesses are subject to eminent domain purchases for the project, and he said engineers are "fine-tuning" the plan to reduce that number by a third.

"One of the great concerns was how many homes would be affected,"
Kosup said. 

The first phase of the project, with a $400 million price tag, will take
the one current express lane in each direction from the 805 freeway to
Manchester Avenue, and extend it to the north end of Oceanside, according to Kosup. Eventually express lanes will extend from the border to Camp Pendleton.

He said that will take a couple of years, and Caltrans will repeat the
process used on a similar project on Interstate 15, in which there were few disruptive lane closures. He also said workers will recycle old freeway materials like they did on the other project.

The second lane will be added in future years, depending on when money is available, he said.

Kosup said he thinks the plans should satisfy Sen. Christine Kehoe, who led opposition to expansion of the freeway. Kehoe and other opponents favored a balanced approach that emphasizes better public transit.

Among the Caltrans plans for the I-5 corridor:
   -- the installation of a second rail track, so more trains can run;
   -- putting in transparent sound walls that are not expected to cut into ocean views for residents;
   -- creation or improvements to 23 miles of bicycle and walking paths;
   -- better drainage to keep water from the freeway from fouling the six lagoons it crosses; and
   -- improving the flow of lagoon water from one side of the freeway to
the other.

CNS contributed to this report