Resurfacing Begins on I-8

About 280,000 tons of asphalt will be applied to a stretch of Interstate 8 in Imperial County often used by travelers heading to and from San Diego, a Caltrans spokesman said.

The project is one of the longest resurfacing projects ever undertaken in that county.

Work on the 31-mile stretch from Ocotillo to El Centro began Monday, spokesman Jim Larson said. The $7.8-million project will take about eight months to complete.

Motorists may experience some minor delays, but no traffic jams along the four-lane highway are expected, Larson said.

Heavy use and the presence of clay in the road’s underlying surface have caused extensive cracking and buckling in the pavement.

Workers will apply more than 280,000 tons of asphalt in layers and then waterproof the layers with an asphalt-rubber compound made of melted rubber tires, Larson said. When completed, about 4 inches of resurfacing material will be applied.

The project also calls for more safety features to be added to the highway, Larson said. Guardrails will be upgraded, and rumble strips--raised dots placed on the pavement--will be applied to freeway shoulders to waken drowsy motorists on what can be long, lonely stretches of the desert highway.

A scale to measure truck weights also will be embedded in the pavement, he said. Unlike conventional scales that require trucks to pull off the road, the weigh-in-motion scale weighs a truck as it travels on the highway.

The California Highway Patrol plans to electronically gather information about truck weights on the highway, Larson said. The information will not be used for enforcement purposes right away, he said.

“The scale will just allow the CHP to monitor what kind of weight problems there are out there,” Larson said.