Caltrans re-opens Ortega Highway to through traffic

Caltrans announced on Wednesday that Ortega Highway has re-opened to traffic following a three-week closure to improve road conditions worsened by rainstorms.

The announcement, made about 11:30 a.m., should be a welcome relief to motorists in the Inland Empire who use that route to travel to Orange County. Drivers taking alternate routes had further jammed Interstate 215 and 15 and Highway 91 in the interim.

Even though the stretch of sagging roadway was closer to Interstate 5 on the Orange County side than the east end of the highway, the entire road had been shut down from Grand Avenue in Lake Elsinore to Antonio Parkway, about four miles east of I-5, since Jan. 25.