State Route 79 snakes along southern Riverside County, carrying motorists through a high-desert region.

The two-lane highway connects to Temecula and Interstate 15 in the north and to State Route 76 in the south, passing through the small community of Aguanga on the way. Over the past few years, the population growth and increased traffic have led to congestion and safety concerns.

Caltrans commissioned Ortiz Enterprises to widen the shoulders by 8 ft., both northbound and southbound, for 6.5 mi. Begun in March 2025, the project is expected to be completed by summer 2027. The job is now 45 percent finished and will cost $61 million.

John Britt is the project manager for Ortiz.

He told Construction Equipment Guide that the job is more than just a simple road widening. Traffic has been rapidly increasing both from the commuters during the week and from the RVs and loaded pickups with bikes and motorcycles for desert recreation during the weekend. In addition, many motorists use the route as a back door to Palm Springs and Hemet, while avoiding Interstates.

Managing traffic is always a concern for highway projects. To mitigate disruption to the travelling public, the Ortiz team came up with an idea to eliminate one stage of construction. They decided that rather than build a temporary surface during construction, the workers would make that pavement permanent, eliminating a stage.

"Having a 2-foot-wide shoulder is no longer an option," Britt told Construction Equipment Guide. "When there is a breakdown or accident, the traffic stops because there is nowhere for the disabled vehicles to go. The wider shoulders will be a place to move accidents. It would also provide space for traffic when future road repairs are done."

Workers performed the grading operation during the day and then paved the 6 mi. of northbound widening in less than three weeks of night work. This enabled the construction team to work when traffic was light and also avoided the searing summer desert temperatures.

Handling traffic and paving were only part of the project.

The Ortiz team provided protection for the road from rockslides on one side and steep drop-offs on the other. It also had to build fills in areas of steep drop-offs and excavate into solid rock in areas of steep embankment to widen the roadway.

Preventing Rockslides

"With some of the steep areas, we stabilized the hills by drilling into them and creating soil nail walls. We then injected grout and finalized it with a rebar mat," Britt said. "Once the top part of the hill was stabilized, we brought in an excavator and removed more dirt and rock. Again, we secured the ground with nail walls and the rebar mat."

Nail wall techniques call for the contractor to drive nails as long as 20 ft. into the hillside to stabilize the dirt and rock.

The soil nail walls are constructed from the top down, excavating in increments of 5 to 10 ft. a time, depending on slope stability. Each layer receives several soil nails drilled, grouted and stressed followed by a mat of rebar and initial shotcrete. This continues to the bottom with some walls as tall as 30 ft.

Once that is done, the contractor covered the entire area with a second mat of rebar and a thicker layer of shotcrete, which is "sculpted" into the shape of a rock embankment.

In areas where the roadway was widened but still had steep slopes adjacent to the shoulder, metal beam guard railing was installed as a safety measure.

The construction team used 38,000 tons of asphalt for the project and removed 80,000 cu. yds. of dirt and 2,000 cu. yds. of rock. A contractor in Corona produced the asphalt.

The project was delayed for more than six months due to environmental issues, so Caltrans eliminated the widening of the Temecula Creek Bridge and used normal asphalt instead of rubber-treated asphalt as a cost-savings measure to shore up the funds available for the project.

The project kept a biologist on staff and planned for the care of arroyo toads that frequent the area and for bats that sometimes make their home under highway overpasses.

The construction team used an armada of equipment for the project, including excavators, bulldozers, a paver, a shuttle buggy and rollers. Wheel loaders and articulated trucks were kept busy hauling dirt during the demolition phase.

Much of the roadway widening involves work that cannot be opened to traffic at the end of the shift, so Ortiz uses portable signals. These signals were programmed to aid in the directional flow of traffic, optimized during peak traffic volume for each direction of travel and operate without any use of flagmen, 24 hours per day, seven days a week.

Signals have performed without any glitches, and delays to traffic have been minimal.

Ortiz equipment used GPS, which enabled workers to place material precisely where needed. The GPS readings also were used by Caltrans to verify that the material was properly placed.

Ortiz also installed cameras on the project, so when motorists call, the team can respond quickly to address any problems.

"Most of the time it is simply congestion," Britt said.

The cameras also help guard against vandalism.

Britt is pleased with how the S.R. 79 job is progressing. The new shoulders and rockslide protection will provide additional safety for a rapidly growing area.  CEG

(All photos courtesy of Caltrans.)

Equipment List for State Route 79

Ortiz Enterprises equipment on the State Route 79 project includes:

• Custom, in-house built drill rigs, including:

• Two on excavator bases (Hyundai 140 and Hyundai 210) for high-reach work.

• One on rough-terrain forklift.

• One on mini-excavator for limited access.

• Tooling on drill equipment is "drag bit."

• A variety of air compressors, ranging from 185–1,170 cfm and up to "XHP" (extra-high pressure) used for placement of shotcrete, flushing out of holes while drilling, various other operations.

• Custom-built anchor testing frame, made from double-wide flange beams.

• A variety of hydraulic testing rams for anchor testing, with capacities ranging from 50-100 tons.

• A variety of rough-terrain forklifts.

• A variety of straight-boom aerial lifts.

• A variety of concrete trailer pumps, used for grouting and shotcrete.

• A two-pot grout plant, used for grouting.

• Side-by-side, used for crew and material transport.

• Water trailers ("water buffalos") for onsite water supply.

• In-house trucking for moving equipment between work locations and the company's yard in Corona.

Upcoming equipment will include:

• Foundation-type drill rigs (likely a Geax EK30 and Bauer BG 11 / 15 / 24) for the installation of the soldier piles. Tooling will include augers, core barrels and buckets.

• Concrete hoppers for pouring soldier piles.

• Small crane (anticipated to be 4-65 ton, and either rough-terrain or tracked hydraulic) will be used for setting some of the soldier beams.

• Timber lagging will use mini-excavators and chipping guns.

• Studs will be welded to soldier piles with a stud-welding gun.