Caltrans closing additional lanes on Highway 50

Caltrans is advising motorists to expect delays on U.S. Highway 50 in El Dorado County for emergency repair work in three locations.

The highway in Silver Fork between Weber Mill Road and Wildwood Way will be under daytime one-way reversing traffic controls Monday through Saturday for the next two weeks or more in order to have two new culverts installed under the highway and a drainage inlet cleared. Work started Wednesday.

A section of the #2 westbound lane in Fresh Pond will closed beginning Thursday in order to stabilize the slope off the highway. This is a four-lane section of Highway 50 and work will be performed behind k-rail.

In addition, a section of the highway at Bridal Veil Falls will continue to be reduced to one lane in each direction for the next several months as work continues to stabilize the slope off the westbound side and to build a new 600-foot retaining wall, which is expected to take several months.

Doug Veerkamp Engineering, Inc., of Placerville is the contractor on these repair projects. The total cost of the repairs has yet to be determined, but District 3 has issued 45 emergency contracts related to 2016-17 major winter storm events at a cost of $63.4 million.

District 3 is responsible for maintaining and operating 1,491 center-line miles and 4,385 lane miles in 11 Sacramento Valley and Northern Sierra counties.

Motorists should check highway conditions before traveling in the mountains by using QuickMap or calling 1-800-427-ROAD. Caltrans will issue updates on Twitter and Facebook.