Work to Start on Bottleneck Route : Frequently Clogged California 78 to Be Widened to 6 Lanes

The long-sought widening of California 78 to six lanes between Oceanside and Escondido began Friday with a ceremonial ground breaking in San Marcos.

The highway has long been considered one of San Diego County’s busiest, California Department of Transportation spokesman Jim Larson said. Most of the $27.9-million widening will be paid for through a massive highway funding bill approved by Congress in 1987.

“The expansion of Highway 78 to six lanes is probably the most important thing that we can be doing in North County,” Larson said.

The project will widen 16 miles of highway between Interstate 5 in Oceanside and Interstate 15 in Escondido from four to six lanes. Work will begin next month and completion is expected in 1992.

The project was anxiously awaited by North County officials, many of whom had lobbied for the project for nearly a decade.

“This is going to have obvious benefits for the whole region,” said County Supervisor John McDonald. “I’m as happy as everyone else. It’s a project that we’ve been trying to get under way for many years, and I think it’s a classic example of what can be done when government at all levels cooperate.”

The widening is needed to counter existing traffic problems and deal with the greater congestion expected in the near future, Larson said.

Over the last decade, the number of vehicles traveling California 78 has doubled, and recently the volume has been increasing by 12% annually, Larson said. More than 100,000 cars travel the highway each day, he said. That compares to 164,000 cars on Interstate 8 and 66,500 a day on California 52.

“There are only a couple other routes in the county that are as busy as Highway 78,” Larson said. “The average growth rate for the others is more like 6%.”

The number of cars using the highway has skyrocketed as hospitals, shopping centers and subdivisions have sprouted along the route. And the continuing growth in North County ensures greater use, Larson said.

According to a report by the San Diego Assn. of Governments, North County population is expected to increase by nearly 75% by the year 2010.

Larson pointed out that California 78 is the only significant east-west connector in North County.

“If you wanted to get from I-5 (in Oceanside) to I-15 (in Escondido), the only place you could really do it is on Highway 78 or 52 (22 miles to the south),” Larson said. “That really isn’t much of a choice. The improvements were needed because that causes a further overload on 78.”