Riverside County To Study Evacuation Route Through Cabazon

Riverside County supervisors today approved $1.74 million for an environmental study and design plans for a two-lane frontage road along Interstate 10 in Cabazon that could serve as an alternate route during traffic jams on the highway.

The proposed three-mile bypass would be located just south of I-10, connecting the Apache Trail junction in Cabazon to Hargrave Street in Banning.

There is currently no viable east-west connector between Banning and Cabazon other than the freeway, where a major traffic accident can snarl traffic for hours.

The Western Riverside Council of Governments — a public cooperative comprised of the 16 cities in the region, as well as area water districts — and the county entered into an agreement in 2009 to initiate plans for the bypass road.

WRCOG committed $464,000 in transportation uniform mitigation fee revenue, assessed on developers whenever they undertake real estate projects, to fund studies. However, under an agreement approved by the board today, the project budget was boosted to $1.74 million.

According to county Transportation Department Director Juan Perez, there’s also $1.7 million in federal funding available.

“This is not something that’s going to be built immediately,” he told the board.

Perez said the route would be constructed in stages, crossing several low-lying washes.

An environmental impact report on the project will likely be completed next year.