Road crews at work throughout Tuolumne Couny

The California Department of Transportation will close Highway 108 from Draper Mine Road to Mono Way this afternoon for blasting work related to the East Sonora Bypass.

The blasting is scheduled from about 3:30 to 4 p.m. That’s subject to change on the basis of weather conditions.

The $53 million East Sonora Bypass Phase II project began this April and received $15 million from Proposition 1B, a 2006 transportation bond.

Phase II will construct a two-lane expressway from Peaceful Oak Road to Via Este Road on a new configuration with fewer curves. 

Other improvements will include a partial interchange at Peaceful Oak Road and a frontage road connecting Highway 108 with Seaborn Road and Waif Mine Road. 

Phase I of the project, which addressed the area from the Sanguinetti Overhead to Peaceful Oak Road, was finished in 2002. 

Additional road work also is taking place this week at various locations in Tuolumne County.

Caltrans construction crews will be working on Montezuma Junction — the intersection of Highways 49 and 108 — through Friday.

When crews are working from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., one-way traffic control will be in place.

The work is part of a project on Highway 108 to Chicken Ranch Road. Grinding and paving will repair damaged asphalt.

A merging lane for northbound traffic turning right onto 108 east will eventually be added at Montezuma Junction to allow for smoother traffic flow.

Through Thursday, crews will also perform road-smoothing work — grinding and paving — between Mill Villa Road and Washington Street in Sonora. One-way traffic control will be in place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on each day of construction.

Drainage work will take place on Tulloch Road Crossover through Tuesday and from Long Barn to Stoddard Springs Road through Friday.