Drive-time drag: Weekend closures on westbound 60 Freeway start Friday, run through mid-November

Heads up, weekend road warriors: Closures on the westbound 60 Freeway start Friday night and will last through mid-November.

No westbound traffic will be allowed on the 60 from the junction of the 60, 91 and 215 freeways in Riverside to the 15 Freeway in Ontario for seven weekends, according to the California Department of Transportation. Lanes will be closed from 10 p.m. Fridays to 5 a.m. Mondays. No road work is planned Veterans Day weekend, Nov. 8 to 11.

Three bridges in Chino also are being replaced over the next several months as part of the so-called 60 Swarm projects. Replacements will occur at Pipeline, Benson and Monte Vista avenues.

The repairs are part of a $134-million project to replace 18 miles of deteriorating pavement and stripe lanes from Ontario to Riverside. The work includes $16.9 million in funding from 2017’s Senate Bill 1, known as the Road Repair and Accountability Act.

“We’re asking people to avoid the area and use alternate freeways,” said Terri Kasinga, Caltrans’ chief of public and media affairs in District 8.

Kasinga compared the effect of the weekend closures to “Carmageddon,” a highway expansion project that shut down a big chunk of the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles in 2011, prompting residents to avoid what was expected to be a traffic nightmare. That closure lasted only 55 hours.

Motorists are advised to use the 91 and 10 freeways to avoid delays during repairs.

The remainder of work will be completed through the fall of 2021.