Today, nearly 360,000 motorists travel I-5 daily between the San Joaquin Hills Toll Road (SR-73) and El Toro Road. Transportation planners expect traffic volumes to grow 25 percent by 2045. To address this travel demand, OCTA and Caltrans are working together to implement the San Diego Freeway (I-5) Widening project from SR-73 to El Toro Road.
Located adjacent to the cities of Mission Viejo, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills and Laguna Niguel, this $565 million freeway improvement project includes numerous roadway, structural and operational improvements, including new general purpose lanes, improved intersections and widened ramps.
As construction crews add a new general purpose lane to southbound I-5, they are widening a bridge over the Aliso Creek Bikeway. During construction, the Aliso Creek Bikeway and Aliso Creek Riding & Hiking Trail are temporarily closed east and west of I-5 and are expected to reopen in 2022.
OCTA is working with the Orange County Bicycle Coalition for input on detour routes and improvements throughout construction and has placed signs throughout the entire 13-mile bikeway notifying hikers, riders and bikers of the closure. Scannable QR code on the signs direct travelers to TrailLink.com, and the detour route is also printed on the sign.
Following construction, the bikeway will be repaved in the closed portion west of the freeway.
Learn more about the project here.
