State to invest more than $100 million in improving trucking along 1-5 in Shasta County
The ambitious ‘Fix 5 Cascade Gateway Project’ will see a series of renovations on the major highway, with the goal of streamlining traffic and preventing collisions for both passenger and commercial drivers.
Earlier this month, the California Transportation Commission voted to allocate $124 million toward major infrastructural updates on Interstate 5 in Shasta County. The Shasta Regional Transportation Agency is co-sponsoring the Fix 5 Cascade Gateway Project, implemented by the North State’s Caltrans District, which will create 14 miles of part-time truck-only lanes, among other changes.
A recent press release noted that the construction will take place between Bechelli Lane / Churn Creek overcrossing to the Mountain Gate overcrossing, north of the City of Shasta Lake. A contract bid process will start in the fall, and construction is expected to begin in spring of 2027 with a predicted completion in 2029.
The agencies said this new project is the result of years of attention on improving driveability on Shasta County’s portion of I-5 — a major artery that runs the entire expanse of the United States, from the Mexican to Canadian borders. Trucking, specifically the transport of lumber, is among the main industries in Shasta County, according to state-collected labor data.
Sean Tiedgen, the Executive Director of SRTA, described the new project in the press release as using a “unique approach” to address “regional challenges around freight safety and efficiency of goods movement.” In California, both the number of car crashes and fatalities involving large tracks has steadily decreased in the past four years, but the state still saw 295 fatalities in 2025 and 69 so far this year.
In the same release, Caltrans District 2 Director Dave Moore said that creating the truck-only lanes will “minimize risk of collision” when vehicles are entering and exiting the freeway.
Alongside the new truck-lanes, the project is planned to make several other updates. Those include four new auxiliary lanes in both north and southbound directions between State Route 44 and State Route 299 and State Route 273 and Oasis Road as well as a third lane between Hilltop Drive and State Route 273 in both directions. There will also be improvements to seven bridges that will include increasing vertical clearance for trucks at two points, updating emergency lane management during fires evacuations and installing a zero-emission truck-charging station among other changes.
The more than $100 million allocation is just the most recent investment California has made in improving regional infrastructure in the last week. The state also approved $325 million towards building a tunnel along a part of the U.S. Route 101 that is subject to landslides, as well as other highway improvements in the North Bay.
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Not one mention of adding truck rest areas with restrooms and truck parking.?California has numerous rest stops closed for renovations on the I5 corridor. It takes Caltrans 3-4 years just to renovate a rest stop. I would think a year is a long time. They should add more capacity so truckers can rest and have a restroom to use.
Many states design rest stops in the medians that have fuel and food services. This way there is a smaller impact and better convenience for all.
California definitely has a shortage of truck parking throughout the state, most noticeable here during storms that close I5.
Unfortunately, all California rest areas have an 8-hour parking limit. Interstate truckers need 10 hours off before driving again (unless utilizing he mostly misunderstood, rarely used 8/2 split).
Mahmoud w/ the pesky truth. Communists love traffic cameras.
Very few 18 wheel trucks or three axle vehicles go the 55 mph posted speed limit and then take up 2 lanes. Then you have vehicles entering from the on ramp going 40/45 easily could cause a wreck.
I haven’t seen CHP pull over any trucks for a very long time, Cars pulled over and stoped all the time.
Thank you for the GOOD NEWS, Nevin! Now, if we can get the CHP to enforce the law, that’s a different question. After taking a fair number of trips recently on I-5, I can’t tell you when I have observed a truck or a car traveling at the legal speed limit or around 5 MPH over it. A best guess is maybe 25%.
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Fun facts: If all drivers in the United States followed the posted speed limits instead of speeding, it would save an estimated 6.7 million gallons per day (roughly 2.4 billion gallons annually. And, if everyone strictly followed the legal speed limit, it would save an estimated 11,000 to 12,000 lives every year in the United States.
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If 50% of the daily speeders in California were caught and ticketed, it would generate a staggering $1.2 billion to $3.4 billion every single day. To put that into perspective, capturing that much revenue in just one single day could completely fund the entire annual operations of the California Highway Patrol.
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Do we live in a lawless society? If so, why? People don’t like traffic cams because many think they vacuum up information that goes to ICE, Homeland Security, or whatever. But if cams were used JUST to capture at least 50% of California speeders, in a year the state would have an extra 1.095 trillion dollars! To put that into perspective, that’s roughly one-fourth (25%) of California’s annual economic output!
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Now THAT would fix a lot of roads…
Except traffic camera citation data consistently show low-income drivers disproportionately violate traffic laws (often underpinning racial disparities: https://www.propublica.org/article/chicagos-race-neutral-traffic-cameras-ticket-black-and-latino-drivers-the-most )