Connecting Sacramento County, El Dorado County, the City of Elk Grove, the City of Rancho Cordova, and the City of Folsom, the 34-mile Capital SouthEast Connector Expressway is designed to improve road safety and shorten travel times in a congested part of the Sacramento area's transportation system that is prone to accidents and flooding.
Modernized infrastructure reduces accident risk across the corridor.
Direct connections between major regional employment centers.
Reduces pressure on existing arterial roads and highways.
Smooths regional traffic flow at critical intersections.
The Capital SouthEast Connector Expressway runs 34 miles from Interstate 5 in Elk Grove to Highway 50 in El Dorado Hills, crossing State Route 99 and State Route 16 (Jackson Highway) along the way. The full corridor delivers four travel lanes, modernized intersections, and a continuous Class 1 multi-use path for pedestrians, bicyclists, and equestrians, ending at the Silva Valley interchange.
The Connector reduces greenhouse gases, pollutant emissions, and vehicle miles traveled. Because the expressway is access-controlled, with no new driveways or on/off ramps along the corridor, the project actively prevents unplanned development from spreading onto adjacent farmland. Combined with $15 million in Measure A conservation funding and the South Sacramento Habitat Conservation Plan, this approach preserves hundreds of acres of working farmland, protects Sacramento County's locally grown food supply, and creates an interconnected preserve system that supports plant and wildlife species and rural ranching operations.
By safely connecting communities east of I-5 and Hwy 99 and south of Hwy 50, the Connector will produce substantial economic and financial benefits — improving the ease and speed of goods transportation and increasing regional economic vibrancy.
The Capital SouthEast Connector Expressway will improve safety by converting two-lane rural roads — not designed for current day traffic volumes — into a modern four-lane expressway, projected to reduce crash rates by nearly 40 percent. It also improves emergency response times for South Sacramento County and provides an alternate evacuation route during emergencies.
Each director is appointed by their member agency from their elected body, bringing local accountability to a regional project.
Go behind the scenes of the Connector project, from engineers and contractors to community leaders and elected officials.
