Repairs to SR 243 & 74 will take at least 4 months
The California Department of Transportation provided an update on the emergency repairs to State Route 74 and State Route 243 near Idyllwild and Mountain Center.
On Feb. 14, SR 243 and SR 74 both sustained significant storm damage. Roadways were washed away, sinkholes appeared, some roads were completely lost.
At this time, the only way drivers can go up SR 74 to access Mountain Center or Idyllwild is through Palm Desert or Temecula.
Caltrans revealed Ames Construction has been working 12-hour shifts to rebuild the roads as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, additional storms throughout the past couple of weeks have caused further damage to both routes.
According to Caltrans, over 25 locations on SR-243 sustained damage including two locations with complete road loss. SR 74 has over 40 locations that will require repairs.
Caltrans officials said the original $8 million emergency contract to repair both routes will see an increase in cost.
Currently, Caltrans estimates it will take at least four months before the public will be able to access either route. The reopening of the route will also depend on if there are more weather delays or other unforeseen damages or circumstances.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/Caltrans8/status/1105613387193614336″,”author_name”:”Caltrans District 8″,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/Caltrans8″,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Another roadway collapse at PM 10.2 on SR-243 within the closure limits. &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Caltrans8?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#Caltrans8&#lt;/a&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/0XMpocG2mA”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/0XMpocG2mA&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— Caltrans District 8 (@Caltrans8) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/Caltrans8/status/1105613387193614336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;March 12, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
On SR 74, there are limited lane widths. In the event of an emergency that would require the community to be evacuated, Caltrans, in coordination with the California Highway Patrol, Riverside County Sheriff and Emergency Management, will make arrangements for evacuation if it becomes necessary between Mountain Center and Valle Vista.
Stay with News Channel 3 for any updates on road conditions.
