By Camas Frank ~

Locals who have gotten used to avoiding the Los Osos Valley Road intersection at South Higuera Street can breathe a sigh of relief this week.

Traffic over the Los Osos Valley Road (LOVR) interchange had already state to ease as workers finished on the newly minted four-lane bridge in early March, but a ribbon cutting ceremony slated for March 29 should wrap things up.

Well almost, said the City’s project manager Kyle Rowland, some shiny new decorative rails will be installed after everything else is done.

At $24.5 million, the project is the largest “capital improvement” in City’s history, he said, adding that it is 100 times larger than it’s runners up for the honor.

Construction officially began on Oct. 27, 2014 with the removal of dozens of trees overnight near and on the site. Despite weather delays, as of the ribbon cutting, the project will be about two months ahead of schedule. It should also be under budget, but the final math hasn’t been done on that.

Originally slated to last 18 months, the project was prepared for years in advance, plans and financial matters had to be hammered out by mid-2013.

Ahead of the official opening, crews were grinding and repaving Calle Joaquin, on the North end where the boulevard had suffered from over use as a temporary onramp for seven months as well as to the south where the use of industrial pile drivers to build the new span had deteriorated the roadway.

At any given point between 15 and 20 companies, mostly local contractors spanning Paso Robles to Santa Maria were employed on the project. Rowland counted 18 in a quick rundown of those currently involved.

While the entire LOVR interchange will look fairly new after the installation of the railings the original three lane span built in the 1960’s is still in service carrying westbound traffic with the new bridge serving the traffic to Higuera.  Sidewalks and a connecting bike lane for the path to Prado Road were also key transportation elements.