SAN YSIDRO, Calif. (KGTV) — After a series of delays, a project to revamp a stretch of Otay Mesa Road near San Ysidro High School is nearing completion.
The city says it expects to reopen the half-mile portion of the road, from Hawken Drive to Saltaire Place, by the second week of May.
The stretch of road has been closed since 2016, cutting off access to San Ysidro High School and the 905 freeway for residents of the Remington Hills neighborhood.
"You either hit all the stoplights going all the way out over to Picador (Blvd), or you have to go all the way around through San Ysidro, 805 to the 905," said Benjamin Bribiesca, who says the detour adds upwards of 15 to 20 minutes to his daily commute to his job in Eastlake.
The city says some of the final work to be done includes grading, repaving, adding anti-graffiti materials, re-vegetation and some sidewalk improvements.
The $11.5 million project also added a protected sidewalk for San Ysidro High School students, who for more than a decade had been walking on a dirt path close to cars passing on the winding road.
The project was delayed more than a year due to the addition of a water line, relocation of utilities, poor soil conditions, unseasonably rainy winters, and an April to July moratorium due to cooper's hawk nesting season.
