Rain delay for Highway 68 roundabout construction
UPDATE 4/12/2017 11:09 a.m.: Wednesday evening work on the Holman Highway 68 roundabout has been canceled because of a rain delay, according to the Transportation Agency for Monterey County.
TAMC said the Highway 1 gate entrance to Pebble Beach will be open Wednesday night.
Construction on the roundabout is expected to pick back up on Thursday.
PREVIOUS STORY: Construction on the Holman Highway 68 roundabout in Monterey County is taking longer than expected. After rain last week, the next round of night work has been pushed back a couple of days.
This is all happening at the intersection of Highway 1 and Holman Highway 68 near the Pebble Beach main gate entrance. The $8 million project is meant to get traffic moving smoothly so there is less stopping for drivers and more going.
“They just yield as they’re entering the roundabout, and they enter the roundabout and then go exit in the direction they want to go,” said Todd Muck, the deputy executive director of the Transportation Agency for Monterey County.
Construction is not expected to directly affect commuters during the day this week. It is the nighttime work that could cause some hassle. On Tuesday and Wednesday night, between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., there will be some ramp and road closures.
The southbound Highway 1 on-ramp will be closed between Highway 68 and the Pebble Beach Highway 1 gate. The Highway 1 gate entrance to Pebble Beach will also be closed, while other gates will be open.
Drivers trying to get to Highway 1 South from Highway 68 will need to take the northbound Highway 1 exit and turn around at Munras Avenue. Large vehicles and trucks will need to turn around at Aguajito Road.
It will not end there. Workers hope starting next week, they can begin a five-week period of construction involving closures during the day that will require detours.
“Generally, that would be people who can’t take a left out of the Pebble Beach main gate…they’ll take a right and go down Highway 1 southbound and make a U-turn at Carpenter. That will allow them to head back northbound,” said Muck.
Drivers around the area ultimately see the benefits of all the work in the end.
“It’s really hard for me to imagine what it’ll be like. I do agree that they needed to do something, I mean the traffic was getting pretty bad like at rush hours and stuff,” said Ellen Rosenzweig, a Monterey resident.
“I think it’s going to be a good outcome. It’s longtime overdue, there was a lot of traffic going on, so it was really congested. So I’m looking forward to it being done,” said Michael Boylan, a Carmel resident. “So far it hasn’t really affected me because I go through the Carmel gate.”
The project is scheduled to be finished in September this year, pending that there is no bad weather to disrupt progress.
