STOCKTON — If you use Interstate 5 in Stockton for your daily commute, Caltrans says a new project will significantly improve your ride.
A repaving project that recently started is expected to take two years and cost $123 million. About $12 million will come from Senate Bill 1, also known as the gas tax. The remaining $111 million comes from federal funding.
Some people in Stockton said this effort to rehabilitate I-5 is long overdue.
Isa Kalifa commutes from Stockton to the Bay Area, using I-5 almost every day. She said the so-called Interstate 5 Pavement Anchor Project is desperately needed.
“It’s a plus,” she said. “At least they do it, because I don’t know if it’s the asphalt or the material.”
Caltrans spokesman Skip Allum said the state transportation agency is working to make the repaving as seamless as possible.
“Move traffic safely, put the work behind some k-rail, clear those lanes, and then move traffic to those new lanes while work continues on those older lanes,” he said.
The repaving will first begin on the northbound lanes before moving to the southbound lanes. Allum said the work from Hammer Lane in downtown Stockton to Eight Mile Road will be done one lane at a time.
Caltrans plans to keep three lanes open on both sides at all times.
“It will require some overnight road closures as we move traffic from one lane to another, re-clear the shoulder and re-strip it so we can keep three lanes open to traffic,” Allum said.
The work doesn’t stop at Stockton’s city limits, however. The project will impact the highway up to the Sacramento County line.
“From Eight Mile Road to the county line, they will be replacing the damaged roads in the area,” Allum said.
Work takes place every weekday evening from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next morning so as not to disrupt the busy flow of traffic. That is something Kalifa appreciates.
“Do it at night,” she said. “That should be fine. Keep traffic flowing. Some people have to go to work.”
In addition to the track work, all entrance and exit ramps from Hammer Lane to Eight Mile Road will also be improved. Some ramps will even be expanded to add more lanes to reduce congestion when boarding I-5.
The project started on June 7 and is expected to be completed in September 2026.
