$123M Caltrans project to improve Interstate 5 between Stockton, Sacramento County line
STOCKTON — If you use Interstate 5 in Stockton on your daily commute, Caltrans said a new project will greatly improve your drive.
A repavement project that recently began is expected to take two years to complete and cost $123 million. About $12 million is coming from Senate Bill 1, otherwise known as the Gas Tax. The other $111 million is coming from federal funding.
Some people in Stockton said this effort to rehabilitate I-5 is long overdue.
Isa Kalifa commutes from Stockton to the Bay Area and uses I-5 almost every day. She said the so-called Interstate 5 Pavement Anchor Project is much needed.
"It's a plus," she said. "At least they're doing it because I don't know if it's the asphalt or the material."
Caltrans spokesperson Skip Allum said the state transportation agency is working on making the repavement as seamless as possible.
"Shift traffic safely, put work behind some k-rail, pave those lanes, then put traffic onto those new lanes while work continues on those older lanes," he said.
Repavement will start on the northbound lanes first before switching to the southbound lanes. Allum said work from Hammer Lane in central Stockton to Eight Mile Road will happen one lane at a time.
Caltrans plans to keep three lanes open on both sides at all times.
"It's going to require some overnight road closures as we shift the traffic from one lane to another, repave the shoulder, and restripe so that we can maintain three lanes of open traffic," Allum said.
However, work doesn't stop at Stockton's city limits. The project will affect the freeway up to the Sacramento County line.
"From Eight Mile Road to the county line, they're going to be doing some slab replacement of the damaged roadways in the area," Allum said.
Work is every weeknight from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next morning in an effort to not disrupt heavy traffic flow. That is something Kalifa appreciates.
"Do it during the nighttime," she said. "That should be good. Keep traffic flowing. Some people got to go to work."
In addition to the lane work, all the on- and off-ramps from Hammer Lane to Eight Mile Road will also be improved. Some of the ramps will even be expanded to add more lanes to reduce congestion when getting on I-5.
The project started on June 7 and is expected to be completed in September 2026.