Interstate 10 Interchange Project on Track

Riverside County supervisors Tuesday approved a $42.3 million contract with a Riverside-based firm for work on an Indio interchange project Supervisor John Benoit said holds vast potential for easing traffic congestion in the eastern Coachella Valley.

“This is a momentous day,” said Benoit, whose Fourth District includes the area where construction will take place. “This is the eastern valley’s main entrance.”

In a 4-0 vote, the Board of Supervisors awarded Riverside Construction Company Inc. the contract to build the Jefferson Street interchange at Interstate 10.

The two-year project is slated to begin in late March and will entail expanding the current two-lane overpass connecting Varner Road and Indio Boulevard to eight lanes, erecting loop ramps for easy east-west access to Interstate 10 and adding bicycle lanes and sidewalks.

“The flow is so restricting right now, people avoid this area,” Benoit said during the board meeting.

Department of Transportation Assistant Director Patty Romo said estimates show up to 53,000 vehicles per day will use the newly configured interchange in the future.

“There’s a lot going on in the Coachella Valley,” Romo told the board. “Growth has been strong in the last couple of years.”

The county has been involved in multiple interchange revamps along the Interstate 10 corridor in the Coachella Valley. Romo said about $120 million in federal funding has been utilized for the projects.

The Jefferson Street enterprise has a total budget of $71.2 million, 88 percent of which is federally funded, with the balance coming from a variety of local funding mechanisms. No county general fund appropriations will be required, according to Romo.

A groundbreaking celebration is planned for March 20, though details on time and location are still in the works, county officials said.

— By City News Service.