EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. – The El Dorado County Department of Transportation (DOT) will begin its US-50 / Pioneer Trail Intersection Safety Project on May 1, 2025. It is estimated to be completed by Thanksgiving.
Multiple agencies came together in 2016 to analyze the intersection and roadways, and since most of the road rests in Caltrans’s right-of-way, Caltrans procedures are used to determine intersection improvements that will provide the greatest operational and safety benefits. It was determined that a roundabout would be constructed to replace the existing signalized intersection.
The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors received presentations on the roundabout in 2019, approving the environmental documents for the roundabout project in 2022. Project documents were completed in 2023. The original Meyers Community plan had two roundabouts planned to bookend the community back in 1993, according to project manager, El Dorado County Senior Civil Engineer Donaldo Palaroan.
Once constructed features will include improving mobility, walkability, and sustainability of the intersection. Enhanced multimodal transportation improvements like visible crosswalks for bicycle and pedestrian movements, providing for future growth for transit facilities to enhance circulation and provide opportunities to experience Meyers as an active transportation user.
During construction, the lanes will be open in all directions to begin with, and the current configuration will be maintained until traffic is switched to the roundabout configuration in late summer or autumn. There will be times when the contractor will implement reversing traffic controls or closing turn lanes, but that will be infrequent.
The price tag will be over $12 million.
