Carbon Canyon Road Work This Week

Here is an announcement from the City of Chino Hills concerning road work being conducted this week on Carbon Canyon Road (State Route 142) and related traffic issues:

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will be performing road operations on State Route 142 (SR-142) in Chino Hills. Crews will be conducting work from Monday, July 28, to Friday, August 1, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., with a flagging operation from Old Carbon Canyon Road to Azurite Road. For questions, please contact Caltrans directly at (909) 383-4631.

Heavier than normal traffic on SR-142, Eucalyptus Avenue, and Chino Hills Parkway may be caused by commuters taking alternate routes due to a recent traffic collisions on SR-91. Please be mindful of delays and driving speed for the safety of working crews and other drivers on the roadway! 

Carbon Canyon Road Improvements in Sleepy Hollow

Slowly, but steadily, the months-long rehabilitation project by CalTrans District 8 to improve Carbon Canyon Road (State Route 142), moves along, despite the closure of the road last week because of a gas line break near the Summit Ranch community in Chino Hills.

So far, the bulk of the work has focused on drainage, reflectors and new guardrails along the project area, spanning from the Orange County line in Sleepy Hollow to the highway's eastern terminus on Chino Hills Parkway at the 71 Freeway.

Installed in rapid precision by crews overnight, a few hundred feet of shiny, new guardrails were installed along the westbound lane of Carbon Canyon Road (State Route 142) as part of a months-long rehabilitation project.

Last night, work in Sleepy Hollow was bright (with powerful lighting to assist workers) and noisy (as power tools were in prominent use), but crews worked very quickly to install a few hundred feet or so of new, shiny guardrails on the westbound side of the road where there is a steep slope dropping down to Carbon [Canyon] Creek.

Of course, the thinking behind installing the rails was to prevent vehicles from careening over the side of the road and down the embankment, but it is also possible that drivers may wind up bouncing off the rail and into oncoming traffic in the eastbound lane.  Bad as it would be to have a single-vehicle accident with someone going over the side of the highway, it may well be a lot worse to have a head-in collision or something like it between two or more vehicles.

More updates will be provided as major elements to the project are completed.

Carbon Canyon Road Paving Starts Monday, 18 June!

As noted before, the completion of the water pipe system renovations along Carbon Canyon Road on the Brea portion of the state highway is to be quickly followed by the repaving of the thoroughfare by CalTrans.

As explained in a notice posted by the department, the $1.6 million project will be conducted on a four-mile stretch of SR-142 from Brea Hills Road (at the east end of the Olinda Ranch subdivision, where the four-lane portion of Carbon Canyon Road narrows to two lanes) to the San Bernardino County line.

Contractor All-American Asphalt will grind the existing road surface in both directions and then apply a new layer of asphalt/concrete, as well as complete other work to the highway.

Work commences next Monday, 18 June and will be occur overnight from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Friday.  In addition, there is a tentative schedule for All-American to conduct work on four consecutive weekends from 14 July to 4 August from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.  The work is expected to be completed in late September.

Even though the project will take three months and will involve regular lane closures, the fact that work will be done overnight will certainly mitigate the kind of delays found in daylight work, though the department advises that delays could last up to 30 minutes.  Those drivers who enjoy employing high speeds on the curves of the state highway will have to modify that routine on weekdays and on the aforementioned weekends, though any weekend before 14 July and after 4 August would appear to be fair game.

For any questions about this project, CalTrans District 12 can be contacted at (949) 724-2000 or at

the district Web site at www.dot.ca.gov/dist12.  The district's social media contacts are at www.facebooks.com/pages/Caltrans-District-12 and https://twitter.com/Com. 

  

Carbon Canyon Road Water System Project Done?

Based on a few drives over on the Brea side of Carbon Canyon in recent days, it would appear that the extensive work conducted by the city regarding water distribution system aspects is complete.  This project, updating a system that was first installed way back in the 1960s, involving replacement of gate valves air relief valves, blow off valves, water main isolation valves, and vaults with pressure regulating valves, as well as almost 3,500 linear feet of larger water mains along a long stretch of the highway would, if this is true, have been completed on time, which can be a bit of a rarity these days.  One notable and visible change is the installation of a new fire hydrant on the north side of Carbon Canyon Road, just east of the former Manely Friends stable complex.

So, if the project is actually concluded, the next one to come down the pike would be the repaving of the highway, with this latter work conducted by CalTrans.  Of course, this will involve lane closures and slower commutes, though the times during which the work would be done might mirror those of the water system project; in other words, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. or something similar to minimize disruption.

To date, the City of Brea Web site does not have any updated information either on the status of the water main work or the resurfacing, but an update will be posted here when one or the other is known.

Carbon Canyon Road Brush Clearance This Week

Commuters will get double the fun this week driving through Carbon Canyon.  Along with the continuing water line project along the state highway in the Brea portion of the Canyon, in which, from roughly 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., lane closures will occur, there will be another project taking place on the Chino Hills side.

This work is being conducted by state agencies CalTrans and CalFire, which will be engaged in removing brush on the easements on the sides of Carbon Canyon Road within the Chino Hills section.  They will be out from tomorrow, Monday the 21st, through Thursday the 24th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.  As this is being done, the road will be reduced to one lane in the areas affected.

Although these are not peak driving times, there will be five hours during the next four days, during which portions of the road in both Brea and Chino will only have a single lane open.

Whatever inconveniences the work involves, the results will be significant.  With the brush clearance on the San Bernardino County side, potential fire hazards will be reduced.  On the Orange County portion, the improvements in water delivery will then be followed by paving of the state highway by CalTrans, something that has been needed.

Carbon Canyon Road Construction Update

From the City of Chino Hills comes some additional information about the Carbon Canyon Road maintenance and paving projects, which being this Monday, 19 March.  This is from the Road Closure Information listserv utilized by the city:

The City of Brea is replacing water mains, vaults, and valves along Carbon Canyon Road starting March 19^th. Crews will be working between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. When a lane closure is needed, a flagman will direct traffic around the work area. Expect delays in the project area between the County line just west of Sleepy Hollow and Brea Hills Avenue near the entrance to Carbon Canyon Regional Park. Work will be completed in May. The City of Brea asks motorists to be alert and patient during this construction period. Every effort will be made to minimize traffic interruptions for commuters.

Most important, probably, concerns the work times, which are pretty typical for high-traffic commuter routes and are obviously designed to minimize effects to users of these roadways.  Moreover, lane closures apparently will not be a constant during the course of the project. 

Note also that the project is to be completed in May (although, as noted before, City of Brea documents had mentioned four or five months) and maybe it will be done on time, though that remains to be seen.

Carbon Canyon Road Major Construction Projects Coming Soon!

Electronic message boards have just gone up on the Brea portion of Carbon Canyon Road eastbound just past Valencia Avenue and westbound just past the Orange/San Bernardino counties line to notify residents and commuters of two back-to-back projects starting on 19 March and continuing well into May (or longer--see below.)

The first is the replacement of water distribution line components including deteriorated gate valves, air relief valves, blow offs, and pressure regulating valve vaults along the state highway from Carbon Canyon Regional Park to Brea water pump station #3.  Further, the project entails the installation of water main isolation valves to minimize service interruptions and enhance operations of the system and improve accessibility for maintenance.  Then, some 3,400 linear feet of 6" water mains will be removed and replaced by new mains with a 2" wider diameter from the aforementioned pump station to the San Bernardino County line.

The second project is that CalTrans is going to undertake the resurfacing of Carbon Canyon Road, which is why the City of Brea decided to put the water main project on the fast track, getting the latter completed before the former was to be done.

Initially, Brea was only looking to replace the valves and blow offs but decided to tack on the water main upgrades when the CalTrans repaving work became known.  When the project went out to public bid, there were fourteen proposals received with a wide variance in estimates ranging from about $770,000 to almost $1.4 million.  The low bid was submitted by a Pico Rivera firm that has done a number of projects in the city, including the "Financial Center" at Imperial Highway and State College Boulevard, and cleared requirements for a responsible bid. 

With the accepted bid from the contractor, the standard 15% contingency for overruns and unexpected costs, and an additional 10% cost for construction engineering, the total costs are just under $1 million.  Because the 2011-12 budget was for $600,000, staff went to the city council and received approval for the additional $390,000 to meet those construction costs.  This comes out of the city's water fund and would not, therefore, affect Brea's general fund.

Notably, although the message boards state that work will be going through mid-May, Brea staff documents gave a four to five month timeframe for the water delivery system project.  It has also not been publicly stated yet how the project will specifically impact use of Carbon Canyon Road.  The message boards stress using alternate routes, though the only other nearby east-west ones are Grand Avenue, the 60 Freeway and the 91 Freeway.  Anyone who drives these four routes knows that when one is shut down or restricted, especially during busy commute times, the impacts on the other ones can be significant.

And, this will evidently be going for several months, between the water system work and the repaving.  So, this will certainly be interesting come the 19th!