Four years ago, Negar Mirgoli and her husband moved to Fallbrook, and just like many North County residents, they now depend on the I-15 to get to most places.
“I take the 15 pretty much Monday through Friday and even on the weekends,” Mirgoli says.
But now there’s a problem.
“I drive at night in the morning, in the afternoon in the day — there's no one ever here," she says.
Construction of the Caltrans I-15 Pavement Replacement Project began on February 20-23 to improve aged pavement between State Route 78 and Deer Springs Road. But also closing two lanes on the freeway in an already busy area during rush hour.
"There's way too much traffic going through — they’ve literally taken 40% of the freeway lanes out — and that's a problem," Margolis explains. "Traffic used to get backed up all the way down to basically the 56."
Mirgoli tells me it's been creating a traffic nightmare for everyone in the area.
"The 15 is bottleneck pretty much, pretty much every day in this segment here, and it doesn't seem to ever end."
Caltrans says concrete mix issues and the discovery of large rocks underneath the surface have slowed their progress.
In a statement to ABC 10News, Caltrans said in part:
“The prime contractor has been asked to expedite all work to open to northbound lane. Our contractual specifications are performance-driven, and if the results do not conform, then the contractor is offered an opportunity to remedy the situation... We understand this creates an inconvenience to the traveling public and we appreciate their patience while we work out these issues with the contractor.”
But for Mirgoli, completion is long overdue, and the wait is weighing on those who live in the area.
“What about my time and the thousands of people that get stuck on the freeway for no reason? If you’re gonna fix it - fix it. Why would you dismantle the road and not fix it."
Meantime, Caltrans says it expects the northbound lane to open this summer.
