Traffic delays in Palm Desert
Near the border of Indian Wells at Cook Street and Highway 111, all the way west to Rancho Mirage, one of the busiest roads in the desert is being repaved.
“It’s a mess at the moment,” said Indian Wells resident, Catherine Belmont. “I try to avoid it.”
Construction crews are moving east to west, repaving all of Highway 111 in Palm Desert.
“Just pay attention and live with what you’ve got to put up with here to have good roads,” said Blas Rivera, of Indian Wells.
With work also being done on Fred Waring Drive along with Monterey and Portola Avenues, some drivers have had a hard time deciding which routes to avoid.
“Everyday you don’t know where they are,” said Brenda Lieser, who lives in the Deep Canyon area of Palm Desert. “My son, he lives right over here, too. He works at Panda (Express) and it took him 15 minutes yesterday. He had to go all the way around here. They don’t give you kind of a heads-up exactly where they’re going to be when they are.”
The city of Palm Desert has a twitter account that updates followers on which portions of which roads are being worked on each day athttps://twitter.com/search?q=drivepalmdesert&src=typd
All work is expected to be completed by October. A Palm Desert spokesperson says so much work is being done in the summer because there are fewer cars on the road, impacting fewer people and allowing road crews to complete the work faster than they would during season.
The roadways are being resurfaced using an environmentally friendly technique called Cold In-Place Recycling. Workers grind up the existing asphalt on the street and crush it into small pieces, blend them with asphalt oil and return them to the roadway. After the asphalt is recycled, the street is capped with two inches of environmentally friendly warm-mix asphalt.
One lane is always open in each direction. The resurfacing project is expected to cost just over $3 million.
An update from the Palm Desert Public Works Department on major road construction projects as of August 21, 2013:
Monterey Avenue and Fred Waring Drive Improvements : Paving of the entire project is expected to continue into next week. This will be followed by manhole adjusting, striping, and signal loop installation. The contractor anticipates being substantially complete with all lanes open by the end of the day on Friday, August 30. Traffic should be flowing smoothly on both Monterey Avenue and Fred Waring Drive for the start of the school year. Minor cleanup work could occur through early September.
Highway 111 : Paving has commenced on Highway 111 and will progress several blocks per day. Final paving will be complete by Friday, August 30 and will be followed by striping and loop installation. The contractor anticipates being substantially complete with all lanes open by Friday, September 6. CVWD (Coachella Valley Water District) has elected to adjust their manholes on this project so that work may extend well into September.
Paving and the first coat striping on Portola Avenue was completed on August 19. Signal loop installation will occur simultaneously with the Highway 111 loop installation. CVWD will also be adjusting their manholes on Portola Avenue, which may extend well into September.
