A bill to speed up preparations for a Riverside (91) Freeway widening project was signed into law, clearing the way for work to start and “thousands of jobs” to be created, a Riverside County transit official said today.
Assembly Bill 2098, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed on Monday, allows the Riverside County Transportation Commission to utilize the “design-build” process for the 91 Corridor Improvement Project.
Design-build permits the lead agency on a publicly funded project to keep procurement and contractor hiring under one roof, in contrast to “design-bid-build,” which requires dividing up the design and construction phases of a project between different entities.
Design-build can shave three to five years off the time it takes to complete a project, according to Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona, who authored the bill.
RCTC Executive Director Anne Mayer thanked the governor for “making infrastructure a priority.”
“The governor’s approval of AB 2098 ensures that we move forward with a project that creates thousands of jobs and improves the commute on the 91 freeway,” Mayer said.
She estimated some 18,000 jobs would be created by the $1.3 billion project, which is slated to get under way in early 2012 and reach completion by late 2015.
The project calls for an eight-mile extension of the two eastbound toll lanes that currently stop at the Riverside-Orange County line. Improvements will also be made to the Interstate 15/91 interchange in Corona and various roads that parallel the 91.
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