Westbound Euclid Avenue offramp from 60 Freeway to get improvements

Whenever Mayor Paul Leon exits the 60 Freeway at Euclid Avenue, he is fearful the westbound traffic zooming by might hit his vehicle.

The off-ramp usually gets backed up, almost forcing cars to stop on the freeway, Leon said.

He's not the only one who sees a problem. Caltrans plans to widen the off-ramp and improve the traffic efficiency.

The City Council recently approved an agreement with Caltrans to split the costs for the $1 million improvement project.

"For years, we've been looking for solutions to get a handle on that," Leon said.

The solution is to widen the lane on the right side of the off-ramp. The widening is part of the 2010-2040 Measure I Nexus Study project, which aims to improve efficiency at the interchange, according to a city report.

The second phase of the project would widen the eastbound off-ramp, though a date has not been set for that work.

Caltrans will be the lead agency on the project, but Ontario will be the local government in charge, City Manager Chris Hughes said.

Because of that designation, Ontario will pay for half the costs, he said.

But Hughes said he is in negotiation with San Bernardino Associated Governments and Chino to share the $500,000 cost. The organizations would reimburse Ontario, he said.

He hopes to have an agreement finalized in the next couple of months to require Sanbag to pay for $277,500 and Chino to pay $95,675. Ontario would be responsible for the remaining $126,825.

Chino has been included in the project because a percentage of the truck and vehicle traffic is traveling to that city, Hughes said.

Construction is expected to start next year and be completed by the end of the year, he said.

For Leon, the existing situation has been "unacceptable," and he is pleased that changes will soon occur.

"We're going to go ahead and change that to make sure that the off-ramp works," he said.