FALLBROOK: Highway 76 widening on schedule

1.3-mile stretch east of I-15 will be four lanes by this time next year, managers say

By TOM PFINGSTEN - Staff Writer | Thursday, September 4, 2008 6:13 PM PDT ∞

FALLBROOK ---- Road construction on a busy stretch of Highway 76 between Interstate 15 and the Pala Indian reservation is on schedule and progressing smoothly, project managers said Thursday.

As 1.3 miles of curvy, narrow road slowly get a 21st-century makeover into a four-lane highway, crews are expected to work through the next year to open the new stretch by the end of summer 2009.

"We are still committed to a schedule of 220 working days to complete the construction and open the road to traffic," said Sam Amen, a Caltrans project manager. "That's about a year, if you add the environmental window."

According to environmental laws, in certain weeks during the year, workers cannot encroach on sensitive habitat near the San Luis Rey River where endangered species of birds are known to live and reproduce, Amen said.

But that doesn't mean work has to come to a halt. It just means those areas must be avoided, he added.

Gary Johnson, a project manager for Granite Construction, said that the road work is being done by Orange County-based Sukut Construction Inc.

But Granite Construction is providing half the money for the $26 million of road improvements to make up for additional traffic that will be generated once its Rosemary's Mountain quarry opens for business in a few years.

The Pala tribe is footing the other half of the bill, Johnson said earlier this year.

"We're using material out of the quarry to help keep the cost down on the road work," he said, adding that about 300,000 tons of rock will be moved from the quarry site across 76 and into the riverbed to help build the new stretch of highway.

Amen described the project as "a big deal," because the highway is too narrow between Pankey Road and Rice Canyon Road to meet Caltrans standards.

"It's a big improvement," he said, pointing out that adding a lane to an interstate is not as significant as adding a lane each way to a rural highway. "It's a two-lane road, so it's basically doubling the capacity."

Amen said that because several major curves between I-15 and Rice Canyon Road will be straightened, "instead of driving at 35 miles per hour, now we may be able to drive 55 miles per hour in this segment."

That should come as a relief to the thousands of motorists who make the drive each week to visit one of the several large Indian casinos dotting the rural landscape around Highway 76's meandering route toward Palomar Mountain.

Meanwhile, Johnson said it will take Granite Construction several years to develop its Rosemary's Mountain site by building structures and installing machinery necessary to run a gravel mine.

"It'll be about three years before we're fully operational, with a permanent plant," he said.

Granite Construction has established a hot line for information on road closures and other details related to the road-widening project at (760) 775-7500.

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 740-3516 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.