Highway 50 Finally Getting Its Happy Ending After Six Years of Cone-Filled Misery

For six years, Sacramento drivers have treated Highway 50 like a construction zone from a never-ending nightmare—because it literally has been one. But the finish line is actually in sight now, and Caltrans isn’t just wrapping up the“Fix50”project; they’re making some final touches that’ll make your commute noticeably better.

The Fix50 project has been rehabilitating a 14-mile stretch from the U.S. 50/Interstate 5 interchange to the U.S. 50/Watt Avenue interchange, and if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice the pavement is smoother, the lanes are wider, and those bullet-ridden sidewalks have been replaced with brand new ones. Caltrans says they’re adding 14 lane miles of high-occupancy (HOV) lanes and rehabilitating 53 lane miles of pavement overall. That doesn’t sound like much until you realize this stretch hadn’t received a major rehabilitation since the 1960s. So yeah, it was overdue.

Right now, crews are in the final phase—which means you might see some early-morning closures. The 16th Street and 10th Street off-ramps on westbound U.S. 50 will be closed from 1 a.m. through 5 a.m. on Thursday as Caltrans finishes up two joint seals. There’ll also be westbound lane reductions from Wednesday at 9 p.m. through Thursday at 5 a.m. on the U.S. 50/State Route 99/Instate Business 80 interchange. It’s annoying, sure, but temporary.

Commuters like Luis Varela are already noticing the difference. The lanes are wider, the bumps are gone, and there’s actual light at the end of this construction tunnel. For half a billion dollars spent over six years, Sacramento drivers deserve roads that work—and it sounds like they’re finally getting them. Caltrans expects the whole project to wrap up by the end of September, with the next couple of months focused on final inspections and making sure those lane transitions are smooth and signage is clear. After six years of asking when this would end, we can finally say: soon.