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Politics & Government

Phase One of 57/60 "Big Fix" Scheduled to Be Completed By 2014

During Tuesday night's Diamond Bar City Council meeting, updates were given on the huge project that is supposed to help relieve traffic congestion.

During the Tuesday night Diamond Bar City Council meeting, city staff gave an update on the 57/60 freeway “Big Fix” project, which officials say will help alleviate traffic issues.

Where the 57 and 60 freeways merge stretches for two miles, and according to City Manager James DeStefano, the interchange “creates gridlock” that “spills over into our community.” About 350,000 vehicles make their way through this area every day.

The “Big Fix,” also known as the “Confluence Project,” is being broken down into three phases: Phase One consists of construction of a westbound slip ramp at Grand Avenue and the 60; Phase Two is improvements to the Grand Avenue and Golden Springs Drive intersection; and Phase Three is the widening of the Grand Avenue bridge, creation of bypass roads, and on/off reconfiguration.

Find out what's happening in Diamond Bar-Walnutwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to the city’s senior civil engineer Rick Yee, Phase One is fully funded for $16.5 million, and Phase Two, which is having an environmental impact report developed, is also funded for an estimated $15 million. Phase Three does not yet have any funding, and it will cost an estimated $233.5 million. 

“There are different strategies being looked at for creative fund sources,” Yee said. 

Find out what's happening in Diamond Bar-Walnutwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Phase One is scheduled to be completed by 2014, and Phase Two by 2015. Pending the availability of funding, Phase Three has a tentative completion year of 2017.

“As it stands, it’s not the complete project that’s often referred to as the ‘Big Fix,’” said Yee. “It’s actually missing some components; it’s missing freeway connectors running from the southbound 57 to eastbound 60 and reverse of that.”

Also necessary to represent a full fix is a westbound bypass ramp from the 60 to Grand Avenue and HOV connectors. The price of the missing connectors is expected to be $300 million, and $70 million a piece for the other components.

Associate engineer Kimberly Young also gave an update on another undertaking, the Lemon Avenue on and off ramp project, which originally stemmed from an existing 1968 agreement between Los Angeles County and the state.

“It was to build an eastbound off ramp and westbound on ramp, but the project stalled due to financial constraints,” Young said.

In June of 2004, the city of Diamond Bar entered into a letter of agreement with the City of Industry to cooperatively pursue the Lemon Avenue interchange, in order to relieve congestion at the Golden Springs Drive and Brea Canyon Road interchange and improve safety and traffic movement on the 60 and 57.

According to Young, the plan is currently in the right of way phase, and residents and commercial property owners have been notified of the decision to appraise from the state. It could take up to 18 months, and cost just over $2.2 million, including capital costs for acquisitions and administrative costs for Caltrans.

When all is said and done, the expected cost most likely will be more than $19 million, the construction will start in 2014, and it will be completed by December 2015.

For more on the Tuesday night Diamond Bar City Council meeting, check back with Diamond Bar Patch Wednesday morning.

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