Friday marked the finish of a huge part of the $324 million Devore Interchange Project in Southern California.
However, the part that would have reconnected a two-mile section of Route 66 for the first time in decades won’t be finished for another month or two.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the interchange was held Friday that included classic cars from the Over the Hill Gang car club from San Bernardino, California.
Delvin Harbour, a volunteer at the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville who attended the ceremony, said the Route 66 part won’t be completed for a few more weeks.
He said in a text Saturday:
There is a 1/4 mile part of that 2 miles that they are getting close to paving. I drove it yesterday morning, but the construction workers were looking at us, kind of funny! Since they were having that ribbon cutting ceremony earlier, we were okay, but it will not be officially open to traffic for another month or 2.
I think they have security guards in the construction zone to keep people from driving it right now. […] The portion I drove on yesterday, was the base material that they had all nice and smooth, getting pretty close to paving it in the next couple of days. They still have quite a bit of work to get it all paved correctly & put the lines on the road and make sure it is safe for motorists.
Harbour said that puts Route 66’s completion in July.
Once it’s finished, Route 66 travelers and commuters would no longer find a gap on old Route 66 between Kenwood Avenue and Devore Road leading into San Bernardino.
The California Department of Transportation oversaw the massive interchange project that the merged interstates 15 and 215 in an effort to solve one of the state’s worst bottlenecks. More than 1 million vehicles go through it each week.
So how much better will traffic on the interstates be? The Press-Enterprise has some data:
The improvements — new lanes and bridges — are anticipated to shave as much as 30 minutes to an hour off commute time for residents driving through the pass.
Caltrans isn’t reconnecting old Route 66 entirely out of the good of its heart. The road will serve as an alternate for when the freeway is closed because of an accident.
(Image from ribbon-cutting via CalTrans District 8 via Facebook)