Increased “Badlands” speed enforcement coming to SR-60
Motorists speeding through the Route 60 Truck Lanes construction zone in Riverside County between Beaumont and Moreno Valley may be seeing flashing red and blue lights in their rearview mirrors, due to newly enhanced California Highway Patrol enforcement in this area.
The CHP San Gorgonio Pass Office has dedicated additional resources for speed enforcement to enhance the safety of construction workers and motorists. In the first two weeks alone since the start of the enhanced enforcement, officers have issued 177 citations and two verbal warnings to motorists putting the pedal to the metal.
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“The San Gorgonio Pass California Highway Patrol consistently strives to maintain motorist safety and reduce injuries and deaths that occur within our jurisdiction,” said Captain Mike Alvarez, Commander of the San Gorgonio Pass Area CHP office.
“The Route 60 Truck Lanes Project will greatly improve our transportation infrastructure, and we are committed to maintaining the safety of our community throughout the duration of the project,” Alvarez said. “As always, we are proud to partner with the Riverside County Transportation Commission to accomplish this goal through strategic collaboration and enhanced enforcement and education.”
The CHP and the Riverside County Transportation Commission, the lead agency for construction of the Route 60 Truck Lanes, began seeing an uptick in speeding and collisions after RCTC shifted vehicles to the newly paved westbound lanes on August 9. In the few weeks following the transition, 13 collisions occurred in the project area – 11 in the westbound lanes and two in the eastbound lanes – primarily due to excessive speed. Of these collisions, two vehicles rolled over the median barrier where crews were working.
Although the collisions resulted in only three minor injuries, RCTC and the CHP recognized the growing problem and met to discuss ways to improve safety using the CHP’s Triple-E approach – engineering, education, and enforcement.
RCTC flattened the outer shoulder slope and added two feet of asphalt paving to the shoulder for motorists who may drift off the road and created cutout areas for CHP units to safety pull over motorists. The CHP also will be adding speed detection signs to educate motorists of their rates of speed. The speed limit in the construction zone is 55 mph.
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“This is a safety project, and it is essential that drivers slow down,” said RCTC Chair and Wildomar City Council Member Ben J. Benoit. “Speeding drivers and rollover incidents are placing our crews at risk and causing danger on the road,” he said. “Don’t risk your lives and the lives of others just to save a few minutes of time.”
Crews are continuing construction of the Route 60 Truck Lanes, with a focus on work in the roadway median. The project, which will add an eastbound truck climbing lane, a westbound truck descending lane, wider shoulders and medians, and wildlife crossings, is expected to open in 2022.
Submitted by CHP
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Trevor Montgomery, 49, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, (the now defunct) Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.
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