I-215 Abridged

A massive steel bridge was the cause of a temporary closure of the I-215 freeway in both directions through Friday night and into early Saturday morning in what is being called the “Spring Sting” by city officials. The massive bridge is part of a new project to create three new rail lines across the 215 and is part of a bigger project to bring carpool lanes to the 215 from Riverside to San Bernardino. The “Spring Sting” will be repeated three more times throughout the month with the same freeway closure from Barton Road and Iowa Avenue from 11:30 p.m. Friday night to 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning, and another closure from 11:30 p.m. Saturday night to 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning each weekend of this month. The bridge weighs in at 1.1 million pounds and was moved across the freeway by a Self Propelled Module Transporter (SPMT), from the Sarens Group, that is used to move a range of other civil constructions and petrochemical components, as well as the space shuttle Endeavor in 2012. BNSF freight trains continued to roar past workers on an existing bridge that will be dismantled in favor of the new bridges. The new bridge was built just off of the freeway for easy placement when the time came for them to span the width of the freeway. This innovative technique was used to save taxpayers not only from the hassle of closed freeways, but time and money as well. Measure I, a half-cent sales tax first enacted in 1989 throughout San Bernardino County for transportation improvements through 2010 and overwhelmingly approved by voters for extension through 2040, alongside Federal and State funding, paid for the project. Each night of bridge placement is expected to cost around $350,000. There are plans to place the third and final section of the bridge later on in the fall. The operation was conducted in partnership by CalTrans, San Bernardino Associated Governments, the Riverside County Transportation Commission, and the Federal Highway Administration.