Westbound Fix 50 Work Likely To Send Commuters To Sacramento Surface Streets

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The first day of the second half of the Fix 50 project brought rush hour traffic to a halt on Tuesday during both rush hour commutes.

Crews are making critical repairs to the westbound lanes of Highway 50 along the W-X viaduct. That means two to three lanes will be closed on both Highway 50 and Highway 99 between 18th and 24th streets through Downtown Sacramento.

There is no denying the closure of the westbound lanes is having a greater impact on commuters than the eastbound work.

With so many drivers frustrated, the city is bracing for more commuters on side streets.

"I think most of the people are going to make the decision to change things after what they experienced today," Caltrans spokesman Dennis Keaton said.

With delays of a half-hour or more, Sacramento's traffic division is watching what's happening on city streets through 100 cameras.

As more than 200,000 drivers commute that to downtown Sacramento each morning start to choose different routes to avoid Fix 50 delays, senior engineer Angie Louie says they're willing to keep the lights green a little longer.

"We will make timing adjustments which we can do remotely from our computers here and we will continue to monitor that and make changes as necessary," Louie said.

But one wrong light change could mean backups at other intersections.

"There's always a cause and effect so that is where we really have to be dynamic in what we do," Louie said "Change and observe and make sure we aren't affecting something else."