Highway 70 Drivers Report Long Delays Between Portola and Blairsden

PORTOLA — With work on Caltrans’s Cromberg Combined Rehabilitation Project on Highway 70 moving eastward, travelers faced unusually long delays last week on the trip between Portola and Blairsden. Reports on social media and from drivers said navigating that 10-mile stretch of highway could take 50-60 minutes due to long lines of traffic following pilot cars through two separate work zones. Many drivers chose to avoid the construction by taking an alternative route on county road A-15—a winding 2-lane road with a 45 mph speed limit that passes through Old Town Portola and over Gold Mountain to Highway 89 through Graeagle—a trip reported to take 25 minutes under good conditions.

Caltrans District 2 Public Information Officer Kurt Villavicencio told The Mountain Messenger Friday that the project team had not seen consistent delays of 50-60 minutes, but that “Caltrans understands the frustration motorists experienced with increased travel times through the construction area.” According to the project’s resident engineer, two separate traffic control locations were in place last week to accommodate “full-depth roadway reclamation and paving operations.” These operations were necessary, Caltrans said, “to complete critical roadway improvements and prepare the projects for winter,” because paving operations have specific temperature requirements that mean the work must be completed before colder weather arrives. Unusually heavy traffic volumes last week also contributed to longer than usual delays, Villavicencio said.

The traffic control operations that contributed to long delays were “concluded” as of Friday, Villavicencio said, and traffic flow did appear to be significantly improved over the weekend. However, a second work zone with traffic controls on the Blairsden Grade was seen to be back in operation Monday morning, in addition to ongoing work between Delleker and Mabie. In response to follow-up questions about when the work will be finished, the Caltrans resident engineer said Tuesday, “Hopefully, the project will be completed this year, weather permitting.” Paving is the majority of the work that remains to be done, but signs, guardrails, and striping are also being worked on, he said.