HIGHWAY98 construction to close ahead of schedule
CALEXICO — Highway 98 at Cesar Chavez Boulevard is scheduled to reopen today, two months prior than previously projected.
An expedited completion is also projected for the fourth and final Phase 1B segment whose construction starts today as well, California Department of Transportation District 11 resident engineer Daniel Hernandez recently told city officials.
To date, three of the four segments that comprise the $12.9 million Highway 98 Phase 1B widening project have been completed, with the fourth and final segment expected to be finished ahead of its projected Jan. 15 completion date.
“We may be able to open in December,” Hernandez said at the Sept. 20 City Council meeting. “We may be able to hopefully open before Christmas.”
Today’s start of Phase 1B segment four construction will result in the full closure of a three-block portion of Highway 98 just east of Cesar Chavez Boulevard to just west of Ollie Avenue.
The entire Phase 1B widening project extends 0.6 miles from Eady Avenue to Ollie Avenue, will expand the highway from two to four lanes and is the only one of four proposed Highway 98 widening projects to be fully funded to date.
Phase 1C, which would span from Ollie Avenue to Rockwood Avenue and expand the highway from four to six lanes, has received funding for its design to begin in January, with its construction not projected to begin until January 2019, Caltrans reported.
Highway 98 improvements have included the installation of curbs, gutter and sidewalks, as well as upgrades that Union Pacific Railroad had installed on its tracks near the Chavez Boulevard intersection, Hernandez said.
Aside from a “minor issue” with the county involving the rerouting of truck traffic that has since been addressed, Hernandez said the widening project has run smoothly.
“We’ve been able to resolve all of the issues to date,” he said.
The reopening of the Highway 98-Chavez Boulevard intersection is also expected to increase traffic on the streets designated as a detour around the ongoing construction, and in particular Grant Avenue to the south.
Hernandez told city officials that they were more than welcome to speak with him about any of their concerns about the diversion of traffic.
In response to Hernandez’s update regarding the detour, City Manager Armando Villa stated that he would direct the city engineer to review the Grant Avenue route to possibly identify any areas of concern.
Villa also asked Hernandez whether Caltrans could take any action limiting the impact the highway’s closure would have on businesses located on the stretch of Highway 98 scheduled to be closed starting today.
Those impacted businesses had been notified prior to the start of construction of the pending closures, and in some cases had been compensated by Caltrans for the loss of property or the loss of direct access to the highway as a result of the widening project, Hernandez said.
Councilman Jesus Eduardo Escobar had also sought clarification from Hernandez about whether Caltrans had considered compensating the business and property owners on Highway 98 for more than just their lost property.
“Were these business owners compensated based on lost revenue,” Escobar asked.
In response, Hernandez said that he did not have all the details about the compensation and would soon provide an update.
The possibility of installing landscaping on raised highway medians as part of the widening project was also discussed at the Sept. 20 council meeting, although such work was not included in the original construction contract.
“This is going to be the jewel coming into Calexico, so we want to think about that,” Escobar said.
The addition of landscaping could be considered as part of the widening project, but only if the city would commit to its future upkeep and maintenance, Hernandez said.
Villa also cautioned that any such landscaping would incur costs to the financially-constrained city, as well as create potential hazards for city staff performing the maintenance work. A better option might be stamped concrete, he suggested.
“There’s a huge liability we need to be cautious of,” Villa said.
In a sign of support for the possible landscaping, Councilman Bill Hodge pointed to similar landscaping found in other local cities’ highway medians, while Councilman Armando Real suggested that local businesses may be willing to step up and maintain the medians.
“If I had a business, I would be happy because business should improve in the future,” Real said.