Los Osos Valley Road widening project is wrapping up in SLO

If you’ve been battling construction on the Los Osos Valley Road interchange at Highway 101 for nearly a year-and-a-half, you already know the news: The $24.5 million widening project is nearly finished. Four lanes are now open — about two months ahead of schedule.

There’s still some minor work to be done, but a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony has been set for March 29, marking the end of a massive improvement project that has been planned and developed for at least 20 years, according to city officials.

Construction to widen Los Osos Valley Road between the Calle Joaquin intersection and South Higuera Street officially started in October 2014 with the chopping down of about 100 trees.

The widening project was actually the third phase of a plan to improve the interchange area; two previous phases over the past 10 years included relocating part of Calle Joaquin and some sidewalk and bridge work.

Construction and landscaping on the widening project cost about $24.5 million. Collectively, all three phases have totaled about $35.3 million, project manager Kyle Rowland said.

The three-lane Los Osos Valley Road interchange was built in 1962 and in recent years became notorious for traffic jams.

To widen Los Osos Valley Road, a new two-lane bridge over Highway 101 was constructed to carry eastbound traffic on Los Osos Valley Road, with the existing bridge carrying westbound travelers. The project also includes sidewalks over the freeway, 6.5-foot-wide bike paths over the highway and improvements to the on- and off-ramps.

On Friday, drivers heading south on Highway 101 found the permanent off-ramp to Los Osos Valley Road reopened after about six months of using a temporary off-ramp onto Calle Joaquin.

Some final repaving remains to be done on Calle Joaquin, which saw accelerated wear because of the construction, and on South Higuera Street near Los Verdes Drive.

This story was originally published March 6, 2016 at 8:09 PM with the headline "Los Osos Valley Road widening project is wrapping up in SLO."