I-10 Corridor Express Lanes

San Bernardino County, California

Michael Baker is currently serving as lead designer on the $672.9 million Interstate 10 Corridor Express Lanes design-build project in San Bernardino County to reduce traffic congestion, increase throughput and enhance regional mobility.

The I-10 is a vital transportation route through the Inland Empire. More than 263,000 vehicles travel through the corridor each day. As the region continues to grow, travel demands will exceed the capacity of the transportation corridor, causing an increase in delays, accidents and congestion.  By 2045, it’s estimated that daily traffic on the I-10 will increase to 350,000 vehicles, which the current corridor is not designed to accommodate.

The project includes widening an 11-mile stretch of high-volume, high-speed, multilane freeway for a new tolled Express Lane facility – through a heavily populated area with hundreds of commercial and retail properties bordering both sides – while still keeping five lanes in each direction open at all times, except during critical  weekend 55-hour lane closure scenarios, and doing it cost-efficiently, time-efficiently and safely.

As lead designer, Michael Baker is responsible for managing the overall design process, which includes ensuring that the design meets the schedule and established design criteria, as well as interfacing directly with the design-build contractor, Lane-Security Paving Joint Venture (LSPJV), to integrate design and construction.

Michael Baker also is responsible for design of roadway, structure, drainage, and maintenance of traffic for two of the four design segments, as well as intelligent transportation systems, tolling design, signals, lighting, landscape architecture and survey activities for the entire corridor. The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA), California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and numerous municipalities along the route are involved in the project.

To accommodate the added Express Lanes, the project proposes to widen or replace 20 bridge structures, including six overcrossing replacements, two undercrossing replacements, seven undercrossing widenings and five bridge widenings over channels. The project adds approximately 80 retaining walls of various types, including sub-horizontal ground anchor walls, soldier pile walls, soil nail walls, standard walls and sound wall barriers.