More than 90 residents and business owners attended the June 7 public information meeting for the proposed SR-55 (I-5 to SR-91) Improvement Project. OCTA and Caltrans are studying several improvements to reduce congestion, increase capacity and improve traffic operations on that stretch of the 55 freeway. The project is part of Measure M (also known as OC Go), Orange County’s voter-approved transportation investment plan that puts tax dollars to work locally.
The project is in the preliminary engineering and environmental review phase, which began in early 2017. During this phase, the project team identifies potential environmental impacts of proposed improvements as well as and ways to avoid or significantly reduce those impacts. The team also studies project benefits and costs.
The meeting, held at the Sports Center at Grijalva Park in Orange, provided the public with an opportunity to learn more about the project, the proposed improvements and the environmental review process, and to meet the project team.
As part of the environmental review, technical experts conduct studies and prepare preliminary designs, all of which will be compiled into a Draft Environmental Document. The draft document is anticipated to be released in mid-2019 for public review. The environmental phase is expected to be completed in early 2020, marking a significant milestone.
For more information about the project, to sign up for email alerts or to contact the public outreach team, please visit the project website here. You can also stay up to date via the project’s Facebook page.