Expect Nighttime 60 Freeway Lane Closures Through The Badlands

BEAUMONT, CA — Nighttime alternating lane closures will begin Tuesday, Aug. 13, and continue for the rest of the week along the eastbound Moreno Valley (60) Freeway between Moreno Valley and Beaumont for construction, possibly slowing motorists traveling through the Badlands.

According to the Riverside County Transportation Commission, beginning at 9 p.m. Tuesday, the California Highway Patrol will close one eastbound lane between Gilman Springs Road at the eastern edge of Moreno Valley and Jack Rabbit Trail on the outskirts of Beaumont, just under five miles, as part an ongoing freeway realignment project.

The closure will be lifted at 6 a.m. Wednesday, then it will go back into effect during the same hours Wednesday night to Thursday morning, and Thursday night to Friday morning, the RCTC said.

The agency said a lane closure will also be required from 11 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday.

One eastbound lane will remain open throughout the construction zone at all times. The westbound side of the freeway will not be impacted.

According to the RCTC, the closures are among minor finishing touches still needed for the Route 60 Truck Lanes Project, which largely wrapped up two years ago when the truck lanes opened in both directions.

The $113 million project began in the summer of 2019 and entailed widening the 60 through the Badlands, where the freeway twists and turns over barren hillsides without the availability of frontage roads.

The project was funded by Measure A county sales taxes, as well as federal and state grants, providing specially designated truck lanes to reduce congestion.

In addition to the new lanes, crews flattened several of the most curvy road sections to improve motorists' visibility and widened freeway shoulders to 12 feet along the outside lanes and 11 feet on the inside lanes, adjacent to the center divider.

More information is available at rctc.org/60trucklanes.