UPDATE: Rain pauses Highway 17 storm prep work

UPDATE 11/2/2015 11:45 AM: Ironically, Monday’s rainy weather gave Caltrans the red light as they work to get Highway 17 ready for rain.

Crews were able to get some work done early Monday morning in Scotts Valley.

Weather permitting, Caltrans said they will resume their work Tuesday.

ORIGINAL STORY: Starting Friday, Caltrans will be getting Highway 17 ready for winter weather.

On Friday, Oct. 30, the northbound left lane between Santa’s Village and Crescent Drive will be closed from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. affecting commuters heading over the hill to the bay area.

“Let me tell you tomorrow is going to be chaos out there on the roads,” said Henry Woodley. “Once people get into that area they can’t back up, they can’t get around it. It’s only a two lane highway and if people don’t know the back roads there’s no way out of it.”

Roadwork will include cleaning drains and debris, trimming vegetation and checking pavement stripping to prepare for potential flooding.

“Anything they can do to prep for the storm, but why not wait for the weekend why do it on a Friday morning?”said Woodley.

“Everybody’s going to try to get out of town for the weekend and it’s just going to suck,” said Chase Kammeier.

With all of the construction Caltrans saysmotoristscan expect a 15 to 20 minute delay.

“That 15-20 minutes usually can turn into 40 minutes,” said Fiona Woodley. “Especially if there’s another car accident because of it that can even turn into an hour and 15 minutes.”

But some local businessessay theystand to benefit from the back up.

“The impact on this business is people will be stuck in Scott’s Valley,” said Scarborough Ace Hardware manager Mikala Clements said. “They won’t be able to get over the hill between what 9 and 2 so they can come here and shop.”

Construction switches to southboundlanesnextweek andcould have the opposite affect.

Starting Monday, the southbound lanes will get their repairs.

On Monday, Nov. 2 and Tuesday, Nov. 3, the southbound right lane will be closed from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. between Sugarloaf Rd. and Crescent Dr. This work will focuses on sealing cracks.

On Wednesday, Nov. 4, the southbound Pasatiempo on-ramp will be closed from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for sign work.

On Thursday, Nov. 5, the southbound right lane will be closed from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. between Sugarloaf Rd. and Crescent Drive.

Finally, on Friday, Nov. 6, the southbound left lane will be closed from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. between Sugarloaf Rd. and Crescent Dr.

The delay next week should be less than 15 minutes, and the work should be completed next Friday.