TRUCK LANES OPEN ON STRETCH OF 60
They should ease freeway gridlock between Moreno Valley, Beaumont
Driving through the Badlands should be better with the opening of two long-awaited truck lanes.
Vehicles began using the lanes on the 60 Freeway, between Moreno Valley and Beaumont, on Friday afternoon. The lanes go for nearly 5 miles in the steep and hilly area.
The opening marked the culmination of a $138 million project that started in June 2019 with design work.
The freeway through that spot had two lanes on each side, with narrow shoulders and sharp curves. As trucks slowed while climbing the hills east of Moreno Valley, cars would stack up behind them.
“This project has fully transformed the Route 60 corridor from a narrow, winding, roadway to one that is wide open, safe, and a great new way to drive between the Coachella Valley and western Riverside County,” V. Manuel Perez, chair of the Riverside County Transportation Commission and a Riverside County supervisor,
said in a news release.
The route through the hills now includes an eastbound truck-climbing lane and a westbound truck-descending lane for 4.5 miles between Gilman Springs
Road and 1.4 miles west of Jack Rabbit Trail, the release states.
The truck lanes, built next to the freeway shoulders, will separate slowermoving big rigs from regular vehicles that can use the two left lanes in both directions, the release states. Inland Empire freeways see significant truck traffic because of the many warehouses across the region.
Shoulders also have been widened to offer more room for drivers to pull over if needed and for emergency responders, the release states. Curves in the road were straightened to make it easier for drivers to see.
Two wildlife crossings under the road will let coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, deer and other animals pass below the traffic to lessen the chance of vehicles striking them.
Environmental groups had once sued to stop the project but later dropped their lawsuit.