This will be the second weekend where the eastbound Pomona Freeway between Riverside and Ontario will be closed for Caltrans work but getting through the area this time could be a lot tougher.
That’s because of the Hard Summer Music Festival at Fontana Speedway, which is expected to draw 80,000 people on both days which will load up the 10 Freeway already crowded with summer travelers.
Kimberly Cherry with Cal Trans District 8, which covers Riverside and San Bernardino County, says the word for the weekend is use alternate routes to get there or other places in the region.
She says that is the reason why they are telling travelers without music on their agenda that there are options like the 210 Freeway east or the 91 East to the I-15 are going to save them a lot of time.
Cherry says Caltrans is discouraging the use of surface streets near the 60 freeway to make a major eastbound trek.
As for time estimates to get to and from where you want to go, Cherry says there is no real way to anticipate how long it will take with additional cars crowded onto those detour routes but budget up to 40 percent more travel time just in case.
The first-weekend closure began in late July in the major '60 swarm' project to re-pave a key stretch of the freeway between Riverside and Ontario.
All eastbound lanes of the 60 freeway will be shut from 10 p.m. Friday for the entire weekend.
In July, Caltrans spokeswoman Terri Kasinga tells KNX that the closures will continue on the freeway for 14 more weekends.
Called the "60 Swarm" by officials, a major freeway closure will last through mid-November.
State Route 60 will be undergoing repairs for the next four months or the next 15 total weekends.
The state Department of Transportation said the 60 Swarm projects include the SR-60 Bridge Replacement Project and a separate SR-60 Pavement Rehabilitation project, according to a Caltrans press release.
The 60 Swarm project work will include multiple, full directional freeway lane and ramp closures from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, starting Monday through mid-November 2019.
The 60 eastbound lanes between the 15 and 60/91/215 junction in Riverside will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Friday to Monday, then the westbound lanes on the 60 freeway will be closed for the next seven weekends until mid-November.
Terri Kasinga of Cal Trans tells KNX it will cause much more disruption than the notorious L-A Carmageddon on the 405 eight years ago:
"We are just asking people if they don't need to go anywhere near the 60 on the next 15 weekends between the 15/60/91/215 to please avoid the area," she said. "We realize that it is going to be impactful to motorists, the communities, the businesses."
Yes, that's right: for the next 15 weekends, the 60 will be closed in at least one direction.
Kasinga tells us that drivers will eventually find all the disruption worth it with $135 million dollars of work scheduled to improve a roadway that's one of the most heavily traveled truck routes in Southern California.