The Point: Crews making good progress, despite winter rains
With a year of construction under their toolbelts, the Riverside County Transportation Commission’s Route 60 Truck Lanes project team is looking ahead to roadway paving.
During the first year, crews focused on excavating the steep hillsides through the Badlands between Moreno Valley and Beaumont, moving nearly 1.5 million cubic yards of dirt within the project limits, about 70 percent of the total to be excavated. From August to March, one westbound lane was fully closed to allow crews to safely excavate the dirt.
Other Year 1 highlights include placing 5,000 feet of pipe for drainage systems and completing the first of three stages to build 20-foot by 20-foot wildlife crossings beneath the roadway.
The work was completed in conjunction with heavy rainstorms last winter that caused roadway damage, requiring ongoing repairs on both eastbound and westbound Route 60. Barring any substantial weather delays, the new lanes are expected to open in 2022.
With the hillsides significantly cut back, there is now space to build the new truck lanes, which will stretch 4.5 miles from Gilman Springs Road to 1.4 miles west of Jack Rabbit Trail. Crews have placed sub-base material for the westbound lanes and are preparing to place hot-mix asphalt and then concrete pavement this summer.
A weekend full closure of westbound Route 60 may occur in July or August to prepare for a traffic shift; please watch for details. Following the traffic shift, work will begin in the highway median, and then later on the eastbound lanes.
The team and the San Gorgonio CHP remind motorists to follow the 55 mph speed limit and to watch for changing conditions.
Stay connected to project updates through social media (@60trucklanes) and sign up for construction updates at rctc.org/60trucklanes.