Caltrans crews blast away rocks on HWY 74
Roadwork, generally speaking, isn’t all that entertaining. Laying down asphalt, repairing guardrails, and replacing road signs are entirely necessary tasks that Cal Trans crews have had to undertake following a historic Valentine’s Day flood that did some severe damage to the main roads in and out of the mountain communities.
On Tuesday, however, Caltrans District 8 showed off some of its more eruptive grunt work when it came to getting SR-74 fully reopened to the public.
In March, it was announced that the full repairs to SR-243 and SR-74 would take four months. On Monday, SR-243 reopened from Idyllwild to Lake Fulmor, but the stretch connecting Banning to the mountain communities remained closed.
In a community meeting on March 19, Caltrans officials announced that drivers would have access to SR-74 from Hemet with an escort from 4 am to 7 am and 6 pm to 9 pm. 12 weeks from then, the escorts will be on the road all day.
Since the March update, there has been no further timeline issued.
A Travel Alert issued on dot.ca.gov’s traffic map gave no timeline:
Eastbound/Westbound 74 Full Closure
-Due to Emergency Work
No estimated time for reopening of closure. (Last updated: 4/10/2019 9:56 a.m.)
