91 Freeway Expected To Reopen After Repair Work Grinds Traffic To A Near-Halt
CORONA (CBSLA.com) — Lines of cars went nowhere fast on the 91 freeway in Corona near the Orange County border Wednesday morning, and cameras along surface streets showed similar scenes.
"The last few days have been the worst with the rains and the ridiculous construction going on," said Lisa Ramsey, a Corona resident, who kept her son home from school Wednesday because traffic on the side streets heading to the 91 was virtually impassable.
Repair crews shut two westbound freeway lanes near Green River road to fix a crack in the pavement related to Tuesday's rains.
Corona Mayor Eugene Montanez received hundreds of nasty messages describing commutes that took hours.
"Emails were coming in fast and furious," he said.
The mayor sent an open letter to the Riverside County Transportation Commission, which is in charge of the repair work.
He's not only concerned about Wednesday's traffic but the coming El Niño and its effects on the freeway in the future.
"I have not gotten any concrete contingency plans for the future, and that's the part that's still frustrating," Montanez said. "We need to have some way to know what's going to happen from now on."
At Wednesday night's City Council meeting, a spokesperson from the transportation commission said an emergency-response team is investigating city traffic control and making sure all storm drains are working.
The repairs are expected to be done before rush hour Thursday morning. All lanes should reopen then.
