Roads and the highway in the Morongo Basin featured prominently in several of our top stories this year. An increasing number of pedestrian deaths and head-on crashes prompted CalTrans to start work on several projects in an attempt to reduce highway deaths. Several years before, CalTrans had installed delineators in the median in Morongo Valley to reduce head-on crashes. The delineators were successful, and so this fall, CalTrans started installing permanent medians and guard rails in Morongo Valley. In Joshua Tree, CalTrans narrowed the highway as it passes through the Joshua Tree business district, and reconfigured parking from parallel to diagonal, in addition to carving out dedicated bike lanes.
A head-on collision in Yucca Valley November 1 shut down Highway 62 in both directions for eight hours, causing massive gridlock in the Morongo Basin.
And the Yucca Valley sewer project broke ground in 2017. As part of the project, roads are being dug up to install the new sewer system. But in exchange for detours and the inconvenience of torn-up roads, residents are getting newly paved roads.
In a related story, the City of Twentynine Palms is examining the feasibility of a joint sewer project with the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center.
