Massive Project Will Connect I-5 To Highway 50 Near El Dorado Hills
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A massive road project is planning to connect two of the fastest-growing parts of the Sacramento region.
Robert Harris works with an engineering firm making the project happen.
"The influx from the Bay Area – people selling all their homes," Harris said.
Getting to and from work or play will be easier thanks to the Capital SouthEast Connector Expressway project. The 34-mile expressway will fill a critical gap by connecting Interstate 5 and Highway 99 south of Elk Grove to Highway 50 east of El Dorado Hills. Thousands of homes are on the hillside in the area and each will be filled with families on the move.
"We have work all over the place – Lincoln to Elk Grove to Rancho Murieta," Harris said. "We definitely would use it."
Approximately $170 million has already been spent on construction at three locations: Kammerer Road, Grant Line Road and White Rock Road. And $60 million is allocated for construction currently taking place. But project leaders say it could take 15-20 years before the entire connector is complete.
The goal is to get the project shovel ready and then finding the funding in what is traditionally a long, drawn-out process.
"Phases. There's a lot of phases, environmental, right of way and then you have to do design and construction," one project leader said.
It's a plan for road construction and driving development in an area where there are already thousands of new homes under construction. Harris hopes it will put the brakes on traffic troubles that plague the region.
"It's going to give a way out of Sacramento. For years, it's been really bad coming from the south area on 5, just that interchange – 50, 80 - it's just been horrible," Harris said.