On his way to attend a Mayor’s Conference in Brentwood a few years ago, Contra Costa Transportation Authority Chairman Don Tatzin discovered what driving on Highway 4 was like for East County commuters. Not only did he experience the backup, he spotted a personalized license plate that literally spelled it out for him:

“IH8HWY4.”

“I’d never seen a license plate dedicated to a particular road before,” Tatzin joked at Friday’s groundbreaking for a $32 million dollar project that will complete a four-lane roadway from Laurel Road in Oakley to Sand Creek Road in Brentwood, a distance of 2.7 miles. It will also include four on- and off-ramps at Sand Creek Road plus five bridges.

The project is part of the $13 billion in work funded in the state by Proposition 1B, a transportation bond approved by voters in 2006. Caltrans and CCTA are also widening State Route 4 to four lanes in each direction in Pittsburg and Antioch, and Caltrans is widening the median and shoulder in Discovery Bay.

A host of smiling government officials were on hand for the occasion, including Brentwood Mayor Bob Taylor. “I could not be more proud than at this moment,” said Taylor, who is also a former CCTA chair. The project will help East County make the most of its strategic location at the midpoint between the Bay Area and the Central Valley, he said. “This is a big deal for our community and all of East County.”

The project will be built by a joint venture between CC Myers and Bay Cities Paving. Completion is expected in the spring of 2014.

Oakley City Councilman Jim Frazier, who worked to help secure funding for the project, has served on numerous transportation agency boards, including CCTA. He said the project will not only ease transportation through the area in future years, but as up to 600 construction workers will spend their dollars locally for the next two years, the project will provide a boost to the local economy.

Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan said a key to the project was last year’s redesignation of the former Highway 4 Bypass as the new route State Route 4. Without state control of the roadway, she said, the state couldn’t allocate money to it.