Roadwork is underway on a 4.5 mile stretch of Interstate 80 near Floriston. Caltrans is spending $1.4 million to carve grooves into the concrete pavement to add more friction to the road.
"The grooving basically just puts little tiny grooves into the surface of the concrete, which will help disperse the wet rain and all of that from the roadway and add surface traction for the vehicle." Liza Whitmore, District 3 Director for Caltrans said.
Last month was one of the wettest Octobers in history and about a dozen big rigs crashed during those storms.
"It's been tractor trailer crash after tractor trailer crash," Officer Pete Mann, California Highway Patrol said. "They're mainly speed-related, guys carrying a little too much speed down the hill."
The inclement weather did not help the situation, but Whitmore agrees that the high speeds were a major cause. Caltrans found that many drivers were traveling just as fast during rainy weather as they would on dry pavement.
"That created a great loss of surface traction and when all the sudden, your rear-end starts sliding around in front of you, it usually results in a crash," Whitmore said.
The stretch of I-80 is built on a curve and hill, including a five percent slope in one of the more dangerous areas.
"Even though that roadway met all their friction requirements for a roadway here in California, they decided to go ahead and put a little more grooving into it to help alleviate some of the issues," Mann said.
The machine that cuts the grooves carves three feet of width on each pass, so it travels up and down the freeway four times for each lane. All four lanes will be grooved.
"With the roadway getting some work done to it, we'll be good to go for winter," Mann said.
The construction is meant to keep all four wheels on the pavement, moving in the right direction. While it could prevent some crashes, it also adds an element of safety for CHP officers.
"We're making stops through there. We're helping stranded motorists through there. We're out of our cars," Mann said. "Unfortunately, we lost an officer on Donner Summit, last year, due to a motorist. So, it's those kind of things."
Lanes will be closed during the project, which is expected to be finished by November 23. California law requires drivers to merge into the next lane, if possible, when passing road workers.
"Pay attention to the signs," Mann said. "Definitely slow down for those guys. They're working hard to make our roads ready for winter."
