San Diego CA— Southbound Interstate 5 in the University City and La Jolla areas will be closed tonight through Friday morning and Sunday night through Monday morning while construction crews build a column for the Mid-Coast Trolley project in the center divider.
The closures will be in effect:
• Thursday, May 31, from 9:30 p.m. to Friday, June 1, at 5 a.m.
• Sunday, June 3, from 9:30 p.m. to Monday, June 4, at 5 a.m.
Motorists heading southbound on Interstate 5 will be detoured via Interstate 805 during the overnight closures.
Those heading to southbound I-5 from area neighborhoods will not be allowed to use entrances onto I-5 from Genesee Avenue, La Jolla Village Drive or Nobel Drive. Motorists are advised to seek alternative routes.
A support column for a future Trolley bridge that will cross I-5 is being built in the center divider just south of Nobel Drive.
Heavy equipment and machinery needs to be moved across the freeway during the closures. Crews have begun drilling the 8.5-foot diameter hole in the center divider. Large cranes will be positioned on site to hoist a 155-foot-long rebar cage from the freeway and settle it into the bored hole. Once the cage is settled into the hole, more than 30 concrete trucks will be staged along the freeway to place the concrete for the column.
Traffic controls and detour signs were put in place days in advance to alert motorists of the closures.
The Mid-Coast Trolley project will extend Blue Line Trolley service 11 miles north from the Old Town Transit Center to the University City community, serving major activity centers such as Mission Bay Park, the VA Medical Center, UC San Diego, and Westfield University Town Center mall. Mid-Coast Trolley construction began in fall 2016 and service is anticipated to begin in fall 2021. The current budget is $2.1 billion, which includes financing costs. The project is funded through the TransNet half-cent sales tax and the Federal Transit Administration.