Engineers and contractors with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) began work to fix Interstate 5 in downtown Sacramento May 30.

Workers and subcontractors with C. C. Myers Inc. of Rancho Cordova moved quickly to close the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 to through traffic between the U.S. Highway 50/Capitol City Freeway Interchange and Richards Boulevard.

Local traffic will be allowed to exit at Q Street.

The California Highway Patrol will deploy more than a dozen units to assist in the closure.

I-5 traffic will be detoured west on the Capitol City Freeway in West Sacramento. Drivers will then be directed east onto Interstate 80 and then reconnect with I-5 in Sacramento’s Natomas area.

Work on this stage of the project is scheduled for completion on Monday, June 9 at 5 a.m.

After the northbound lanes have been closed, contractors will begin work to remove the damaged pavement and replace drainage channels and pipes. Crews also will begin work to install new monitoring system elements to assist engineers with checking hydrostatic forces at work beneath the surface of this recessed section of roadway.

Caltrans engineers nicknamed this stretch of I-5 the “Boat Section” when it was constructed in the late 1960’s.

These traffic controls represent the first stage of a $27 million construction contract which includes replacing pavement, improving drainage and the installation of new de-watering wells and monitoring equipment on I-5 between the U.S. Highway 50/Capitol City Freeway Interchange and Richards Boulevard.