Makeshift drainage hole allows I-5 to reopen for morning commute, Caltrans says

A temporary drainage fix is in place, allowing a stretch of Interstate 5 in downtown Sacramento to reopen fully to traffic one day after it crumbled amid storm erosion, Caltrans reported shortly after midnight Friday.

But you may still notice a large hole along the side of the freeway.

Caltrans said on Twitter that emergency drainage work done along the right shoulder of I-5, from south of I Street up to and including the Richards Boulevard on-ramp, reopened the stretch in time for Friday morning’s commute.

Photos posted to Twitter of the emergency work show a makeshift drain opened south of I Street.

Heavy rain Wednesday night burdened a drain just south of Richards Boulevard, leading to a sinkhole on the edge of the shoulder. Two lanes of northbound I-5 were closed along that stretch during Thursday morning’s commute, and one lane remained closed by as of the afternoon.

The crater was patched by Caltrans crews later Thursday and the lanes were deemed usable by the evening, but Caltrans planned 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. emergency repair work to address the drainage issue.

No major delays, accidents, lane closures or other incidents on I-5 in Sacramento appeared to have been reported by Caltrans or California Highway Patrol as of 8:30 a.m. Friday.

The stretch of I-5 has undergone multiple instances of repair work, both preventive and reactive, since this August, when two separate failures on the freeway damaged more than 35 vehicles in total due to potholes and crumbling concrete.

This story was originally published November 30, 2018 at 9:01 AM.