Emergency repairs almost complete on I-80 for winter season in Sierra, Caltrans says
AUBURN – Wet weather is finally starting to hit the Sierra and Foothills this fall. People up Interstate 80 were woken up to the sound of rain and some snowfall, but Caltrans said I-80 is ready for winter travel.
Caltrans has been working on emergency road repairs since the intense 2022 to 2023 winter season, and that work is finally close to completion.
Crews have been chipping away at over 330 miles of road repairs across multiple lanes since then.
Caltrans could not complete all the work in time for winter last year and two months ago it was concerned it would run out of funding before it completed the work this year, but that ended up not being the case.
Caltrans said repairs from Alta to Colfax and Truckee to the State Line are 100% complete.
I-80 between Alta and Kingvale has about 97% of its work complete.
"It's the last-minute task items," said Caltrans District 3 spokesperson Jeremy Linder. "The cracked ceilings and the joints that they need to do, but the full polyester rut repairs those have been complete."
The emergency repairs are close to being complete just as we saw wet weather earlier Thursday morning, like rainfall in Auburn.
Caltrans said the $69.2 million project included pavement and concrete slab replacement across I-80.
"A lot of these areas where we did these emergency repairs for the wheel ruts, they were deep," said Linder. "They were several inches deep and that allows moisture and water to get below the surface of the concrete which can deteriorate it even faster."
Linder wants to remind people to stay alert as they travel the roads this winter. There is still construction work happening for other projects, so the roads may not look the exact same as they did last winter.
"We know the public likes a smooth driving surface, but when you have as much truck traffic as 80 sees along with the chain controls and the wear it takes on the pavement, we just have to find that perfect mix," Linder said.
He said now is the time to make sure your car is winterized and be prepared with chains in case chain controls go up.