Closures of Storm Damaged Riverside County Routes May Last Months

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA -- Highways between Hemet and Palm Springs that were severely impacted by last week's storm will remain out of service for the next month or two while repairs are made, state officials said Feb. 19.

According to Caltrans District 8 spokeswoman Terri Kasinga, the most seriously damaged corridor, state Route 243 between Banning and Mountain Center, by way of Idyllwild, will likely remain closed until mid-April, though residents and business owners will continue to have limited access to the two-lane road.

The 30-mile mountain highway sustained major damage in four places during torrential downpours and runoff on Feb. 14. Rain and runoff washed out or broke up surfaces all along the stretch, with the worst impact being in the area of Lake Fulmor, south of Interstate 10 and just north of Idyllwild and Pine Cove, where the highway completely collapsed.

Kasinga said the corridor will be inaccessible between I-10 and Idyllwild to anyone except public safety officials and repair crews. The southern half of the 243 between Mountain Center and Idyllwild is accessible to residents and business owners exclusively.

However, one-way traffic control is in effect along the route, and a detour onto a county road is necessary to bypass one sinkhole, according to Kasinga.

Also, a 15-mile segment of Highway 74 will likely be out of service until the latter half of March because of the storm damage and ensuing repairs, according to Kasinga.

The highway entirely collapsed at the Strawberry Creek crossing, roughly three miles west of Mountain Center. The closure extends from Valle Vista, just east of Hemet, to Mountain Center.

Commuters coming from the west or south, attempting to reach Lake Hemet or continue on to Palm Springs, were advised to use Sage Road from Hemet, or state Route 79 from Temecula, then connect to state Route 371 eastbound, which links to the open half of Highway 74 in Anza.

State Route 111 between Overture Drive and Tramway Way, on the western edge of Palm Springs, fragmented in several places during the storm, according to Caltrans.

Kasinga said the northbound side of the four-lane corridor has been converted to a two-lane thoroughfare running in both directions. However, the southbound side of the highway will be out of service for the next month, she said.

Kasinga said visits to the Idyllwild, Mountain Center and Lake Hemet areas in the San Bernardino National Forest for recreational activity of any kind were not advised for the duration of the repair activity.

More information about the closures is available at http://www.dot.ca.gov/d8/index... .

City News Service contributed to this report/Image via Shutterstock