Carmageddon Coming to Corona: Full Freeway Shutdown on the 91

CORONA, CA- One of the Inland Empire’s busiest travel corridors, the Riverside (91) Freeway, will be completely shut down for an entire weekend next month in Corona while crews demolish a bridge and make other changes, it was announced Thursday.

During the weekend of Feb. 19-21, the 91 Freeway will be closed in both directions between Interstate 15 and the Corona (71) Expressway, according to the Riverside County Transportation Commission.

The closures will last for 55 hours.

The agency said the closure, dubbed “Corona Carmageddon,” will enable crews to tackle three major components of the “91 Project Fast Forward” without traffic conflicts:

1. Demolish the west side of the Maple Street Bridge over the 91
2. Install support beams for the new westbound Maple Street flyover ramp bridge
3. Pave the new eastbound 91 alignment near I-15

“By fully closing the roadway, we will be able to consolidate these significant construction efforts into one weekend, rather than multiple weekends or extending this over a month of weeknights,” said RCTC Executive Director Anne Mayer.

“Consolidating the work activities within one weekend will reduce the number of closure hours by more than 50 percent,” she said. “The project’s design-build method allows for flexibility in planning work, such as this weekend closure.”

Mayer said the westbound side of the Maple Street bridge at the 91 will be demolished, and crews will install support beams at the flyover ramp connected to the bridge, as well as pave a portion of the eastbound 91 under Interstate 15.

RCTC officials emphasized the benefit of conducting the construction activity without exposing road workers to freeway traffic.

Officials recommended that motorists plan to take alternate routes during the 55-hour closure, which will begin at 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, and wrap up at 4 a.m. Monday, Feb. 22.

Other east-west corridors traversing the IE include Interstate 10 and the Pomona (60) Freeway. Interstate 15 will remain open, as will the 71 expressway. However, utilizing either freeway to connect to the 91 will not be possible.

According to Mayer, drivers who attempt to take the 91 westbound from Riverside or eastbound from Orange County into Corona will likely find themselves stacked up in traffic, delayed three to four hours until they’re detoured onto surface streets.

“Corona residents can rest assured that police, fire, CHP and ambulance personnel will be fully briefed about the weekend closure and are ready to respond,” Mayer said.

A public meeting on the anticipated impacts of the shutdown is slated for Saturday, Feb. 6, between 9 a.m. and noon at the Corona Public Library, 650 S. Main St.

More information is available at http://sr91project.info/ , or by calling (877) 770-9191.

The $1.3 billion “91 Project Fast Forward,” which got underway in early 2014, involves widening the east-west corridor between the Orange County line and I-15, with new traffic lanes and ramps, as well as additional shoulder space and expanded surface streets in the vicinity of the freeway.

– By City News Service. Image via Caltrans.