El Dorado County Reopens Fort Jim Road to Traffic
Road reopens after three months of weather-related closure
Carla Hass
(530) 621-4609
2017-04-19
CAO
(PLACERVILLE, CA) – El
Dorado County Department of Transportation today reopened Fort Jim Road which
has been closed since January 5, 2017 due to the extreme weather and resulting
damage to the road, culvert and surrounding eroding areas.
“We’re pleased to reopen this
stretch of roadway today,” said Supervisor Brian Veerkamp, whose district
includes the road. “While it’s been an inconvenience for our citizens to have
the road closed for the last 90-plus days, the extreme weather we’ve had this
winter resulted in damage to the roadway and became a safety hazard to drivers.
As we move into Spring, we’re confident we’ve made the needed repairs to temporarily
yet safely reopen this road,” he added.
The repairs are temporary until
construction for a permanent remedy begins in August, at which time the road
will be closed for several weeks. Completion of the project is estimated to be
in mid-to-late September.
“Once we saw a break in the
weather and were able to stabilize the ground conditions, our maintenance and
repair crews did the work quickly, taking three days from start to finish to
make the repairs needed to reopen the road,” said Department Director Bard
Lower.
“In the meantime, there are no
load restrictions on Fort Jim and traffic can flow normally,” said Lower. “We
appreciate the public’s patience and look forward to safe driving on Fort Jim.”
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