LAKEPORT — Ramp closures along Highway 29 should have minimal impact on motorists as Caltrans crews work to prepare and repave an 8-mile stretch of the highway through Lakeport.
Ramps at Lakeport Boulevard, 11th Street, Park Way and the Nice/ Lucerne Cutoff will be closed intermittently while crews prepare the road to be repaved and complete the project over the next four weeks, said Phil Frisbie Jr., public information officer for Caltrans in Lake County.
“No more than one on- and off-ramp will be closed at a time,” he said.
Crews will work from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and closures should only last a few hours.
The repaving is Caltrans” biggest projects of the 29 it has going on in Lake County, Frisbie said.
About $4 million were allocated for the emergency repavement project, which was necessary because in the spring the top layer of the highway began deteriorating faster than it had in previous years.
The Park Way closure could affect motorists headed to the Sutter Lakeside Hospital located at
5176 Hill Road East.
Park Way connects to Hill Road. But if drivers are headed to the hospital and the Park Way ramp is closed, they can head to the Nice/Lucerne Cutoff, the next exit, to reach the hospital.
Caltrans has gotten some worried phone calls from motorists who were worried that all the on- and off-ramps would be closed at the same time so crews are replacing current signs along the highway to inform drivers this is not the case.
Crews will use rubberized asphalt to repave the road, something that is beneficial in more ways than one.
“We”re using 405 tons of recycled rubber, the equivalent of 62,000 passenger car tires,” Frisbie said. “It”s great. It keeps tires out of landfills, and it”s more flexible than conventional asphalt so it lasts longer.”
Contact Olga Mu?oz at onmunoz@gmail.com or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
