It's over. The "Fix I-5" Project is officially finished. Well, sort of. There are still a few minor construction tasks that will be done in the next few weeks, but certainly not of the scale we've seen in the past few months. There's a little ramp work left to do and a few tweaks in lighting and other projects that won't require road closures during rush hour. In fact we are told the remainder of the activity will take place at night or during the weekend to avoid closing down the main artery of traffic for downtown Sacramento.
Northbound lanes of I-5 officially opened one minute early, at 4:59 this morning. That means phase four of the massive project is done, and now we can return to our daily adventures down the concrete jungle to our daily detsinations. I've not had a chance to take I-5 through the "Boat Section" in some time so I'm curious to see the repair work firsthand. Since much of the work was completed by deadline local project manager C.C. Myers and crew are entitled to a portion of the more than 3-million dollars that were offered as bonuses. There were a few delays because of the thick concrete that was excavated on the northbound side at the start of the project. The breath-taking heat we had around the middle of July also required the project to go on a little longer than planned as sealant could only be applied onto the concrete late at night when it had cooled down a little.
Road closures and detours apparently didn't take a big bite of profits for Old Town Sacramento businesses during the project, as feared. Michael Ault, Executive Director of "The Downtown Sacramento Partnership" says mid-town merchants haven't reported any major losses because of I-5 construction. He told me during an interview for KXJZ news that it's much bigger than that: "It's not just an I-5 issue, I think we're seeing nationally, retailers and restaurants are taking a little dip in this market, and I think that now that the construction is over, things will pick up a little bit." And, over at the Sacramento Railroad Museum, there was actually a slight increase in visitors during the I-5 project. Museum Guide Alan Hope says that's probably because high gasoline prices are keeping people home and looking for inexpensive ways to re-discover their own community.
We've kept pretty busy covering the entire "Fix I-5" project in the KXJZ newsroom, and there will probably be more to tell you about as the project winds down. We'll keep you posted!