State to invest more than $100 million in improving trucking along 1-5 in Shasta County 

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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