The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) have broken ground on a new interchange at US Highway 101/San Juan Road.

This latest project, worth $69m, is set to improve safety and ease traffic congestion on US Highway 101, between Dunbarton Road in Monterey County and Cole Road in San Benito County.

Penciled in for completion in winter 2014, the project will remove three major at-grade intersections, San Juan Road, Dunbarton Road, and Cole Road, and replace them with a new interchange near the Red Barn at San Juan Road and US 101.

Caltrans director Malcolm Dougherty said that the project eliminates intersections, making US Highway 101 safer, while at the same time upgrading it from an expressway to a freeway.

"The project will remove three major at-grade intersections, San Juan Road, Dunbarton Road, and Cole Road, and replace them with a new interchange near the Red Barn at San Juan Road and US 101."

The San Juan Road area is a choke point for interregional travel along US 101, and it has a high crash history and very high traffic volumes, with close to 60,000 vehicles travelling everyday through the US 101/San Juan Road stretch.

Of the total $69m allocated for the new project, $10m has been funded from the Recovery Act and $28m from Proposition 1B, a 2006 voter-approved bond.

In total, around $15bn in Proposition 1B funds have been distributed across California.

Granite Construction Company and MCM Construction, a joint venture, have been appointed as contractors for the project.

Other projects being executed on US 101 include construction of the next phase of the Marin-Sonoma Narrows Project (MSN) on the highway in Petaluma.

The $700m MSN Project will widen US 101 from Novato to Petaluma and make other significant improvements.