The Abridged version:
- Construction will disrupt the westbound lanes of Highway 50 near the 16th Street exit from Friday night to Monday morning.
- The heavily travelled connector between westbound Business 80 and westbound Highway 50 will be closed, as will the 16th Street offramp.
- This is the third time that lanes have been shuttered due to construction in 2026, despite previous assurances by Caltrans that the remaining construction on the highway would be “aesthetic work.”
Caltrans plans more roadwork and lane closures on Highway 50 near Sacramento’s central city this weekend.
The 55-hour closure on the westbound stretch of Highway 50 is part of a multiyear “Fix50” project. The $511 million effort aims to rehabilitate aging infrastructure and widen parts of the highway.
The lane closures will start at 10 p.m. Friday and continue through 5 a.m. on Monday.
The construction work will see the closure of the connector between westbound Business 80 and westbound Highway 50. Lanes will also be reduced from six to four on the westbound stretch between Business 80 and the 16th Street exit. Crews plan on closing the offramp at 16th Street as well.
More lane closures despite promises
This weekend’s construction work marks the third time that parts of the highway have been shuttered due to construction in 2026. Lane reductions and exit closures also occurred at the end of February and in early January.
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At the end of last year, representatives for Caltrans said that all major construction was completed on their $511 million Fix50 project. On Jan. 5, spokesperson Sergio Ochoa Sánchez told Abridged that no visible lane reductions or exit closures were planned on the highway for the remainder of the project.
“From December to summer of 2026 is just going to be aesthetic work, landscaping, electrical work, painting … cleaning the area of the project, those kind of things,” Ochoa Sánchez said.
“We don’t expect this kind of work to bring major disturbances to the flowing of traffic.”
Representatives for Caltrans did not immediately respond to request for comment on the lane closures.
Investigation provides insight into delays
Caltrans large-scale Highway 50 project has gone two years over its estimated timeline. While Caltrans officials have publicly pointed to weather delays and aging infrastructure as cause for the delays, an investigation by Abridged found that rejected concrete also added months of delays to the project timeline.
Caltrans has previously stated that the project will be complete by this summer.
Felicia Alvarez is a reporter at Abridged covering accountability. She’s called Sacramento home since 2015 and has reported on government, health care and breaking news topics for both local and national news outlets.