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A portion of Niles Canyon Road — also known as Highway 84 — is scheduled to close from this Friday night through Monday morning in order to allow construction crews to connect an existing roadway to a new one that will lead to the new Alameda Creek Bridge, according to Caltrans.
The scope of the work includes “grinding the pavement, laying down hot mix asphalt and rubberized asphalt paving and striping the roadway,” the state agency said in a press release last week.
“The bridge will have the same number of lanes, but will include standard shoulders and a wider median,” Caltrans spokesperson Janis Mara told the Weekly. “Adding shoulders enhances safety on the bridge because if a motorist’s vehicle becomes disabled, the motorist can pull onto the shoulder.”
The construction, which is part of the overall State Route 84 Niles Canyon Safety Improvements project, will start at 8 p.m. on Friday (July 14) and will close the highway in both directions from Palomares Road in Fremont to Main Street in Sunol. Major detours will direct drivers to Highway 238 and Interstate 680, respectively.
The project dates back to 2015 when Caltrans first started eyeing the bridge for improvement and began talking to the community. According to Mara, the project underwent and completed an environmental study in 2017, which allowed the project to break ground.
“Replacing the bridge will enhance safety by improving the roadway alignment, providing standard shoulders, and addressing seismic concerns,” Mara said.
She also added that the project is being funded by the State Highway Operation and Protection Program, which has allocated $28.4 million toward the project.
“The 2022 State Highway Operation and Protection Program is the State Highway System’s ‘fix-it-first’ program that funds the repair and preservation, emergency repairs, safety improvements and some highway operational improvements on the state highway system,” Mara said.
According to Caltrans, if everything goes as planned and the project remains on schedule, the road will be reopened to traffic on Monday (July 17) at 5 a.m.
“Caltrans thanks motorists and residents for their patience as we work to maintain and improve the Bay Area’s highways, bridges and tunnels,” according to the press release.
