I-5 lane closures for next 2 weeks

Construction on the Mid-coast Trolley extension from downtown to University City will require overnight closures on Interstate 5 for the next two weeks.

The closures are required to remove the wooden falsework, or temporary support structures, from the new trolley overcrossing, south of Nobel Drive.

The supports were installed last summer to build the overpass, one of two where the trolley will travel above the highway. With the falsework in place, construction crews poured 670-foot long concrete structures, suspended about 40 feet above I-5.

The closures will begin tonight through Thursday, nightly from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. affecting the northbound lanes. A full closure will be in place from state Route 52 to La Jolla Village Drive. Lanes may also be closed in places along southbound I-5 between the Interstate 805 interchange and Gilman Drive.

The closures will repeat the following week, Sunday, March 8, to Thursday, March 12, nightly from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. in southbound lanes. A full closure will be in place from the I-805 interchange to Gilman Drive. Lane closures may also be in place on northbound I-5 between SR-52 and La Jolla Village Drive.

Detours will be posted.

The San Diego Association of Governments is the lead agency on the roughly $2 billion trolley project, which will extend the Blue Line Trolley. It is being paid for in large part with the region's half-cent sales tax, Transnet, which voters approved in 1987 and extended in 2004.

Officials have said the new rail line, which started construction in 2016, is on schedule to open in 2021. The line will include nine new stations, serving locations such as Mission Bay Park, the VA Medical Center, UC San Diego and Westfield UTC.

Moving roughly 120,000 people a day over more than 54 miles of track, the San Diego Metropolitan System's light rail is one of the largest in its class, according to the American Public Transportation Association.