Full closures on northbound lanes of Highway 101 in Salinas begin Wednesday night

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) Full closures on parts of northbound Highway 101 began on Wednesday night.

According to Caltrans, the full closures of the northbound lanes will happen between East Market Street and North Main Street.

There will be concrete pavement replacement work on five segments of the road from 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. It starts Wednesday night, but the road work will happen from Sunday night through Friday morning until March 20.

Crews will be installing precast concrete pavement, cracking and sealing the pavement, an asphalt concrete overlay and reconstructing several ramps. There will also be improvements to 19 on and off-ramps, according to Caltrans.

"Having these full closures really creates this capsule where we can get to an area and do a lot of work in a very short period of time and we really don't have a situation of traffic moving through the area," said Jim Shivers, a Caltrans District 5 spokesperson.

There will be detours through Salinas to get people on their way: take East Market Street onto Sherwood Drive and then East Rossi Street. Then just hit the 101 northbound ramp on North Main.

"I know my way around, but I'm used to just catching the freeway and heading to where I need to go. So it'll be tough, but I'll figure it out," said Baldemar Sandoval, a Salinas resident.

Caltrans wants to emphasize drivers should pay special care for working crews' safety.

"They should pay special attention to construction signs, speed limit signs, equipment on the move, roadway workers in the vicinity," said Shivers.

Caltrans says the closures will continue up Highway 101 to Boronda Road ending in summer 2021.   

For more information, contract Caltrans District 5 at 831-372-0862.