Stage two of State Route 98 project to begin Tuesday

Caltrans will be starting the next stage on the State Route 98 project in Calexico beginning Tuesday.

News 11 spoke to the Caltrans resident engineer about the project and how long drivers should expect road closures.

“This is a ten month project and this is route 98 widening within the city of Calexico from Ollie Avenue to Eady Avenue,” said Daniel Hernandez, Caltrans Resident Engineer.

The project began over a month ago and will total $73.1 million in total costs.

“Portions that has two lanes, were going to widen it to four lanes, and the portion that has four lanes, were going to widen it to six lanes,” added Hernandez.

The widening of lanes will be along State Route 98, in different portions. Caltrans is transitioning into phase two and started closing portions of the road as of Monday.

Highway 98 will reopen for drivers tomorrow and then Caltrans will begin work on stage two which will involve street closures for up to three months.”

“Full closure is between Williams Avenue to Cesar Chavez Avenue, and the detours are already in place,” explained Hernandez.

Drivers will be detoured using Kloke Road, Grant Street and Cesar Chavez Boulevard.

“We also have a detour for trucks, for commercial trucks, they will use only state routes like I-8 and 111 or 111 and I-8,” said Hernandez.

Additional lanes will improve mobility across route 98 and an added light signal will have a more organized transition from and to Cesar Chavez and route 98.

“Any people that live in Calexico know that trying to get from or to Cesar Chavez to 98 sometimes is difficult because of the number of cars, but this light signal organizes that intersection,” said Hernandez.