Heads up, drivers: Construction to cause detour on Highway 46 in SLO County

Over the next several months, drivers will have to take a detour on eastbound Highway 46 East as Caltrans widens the highway from two lanes to four.

But the good news is it should be a pretty painless change.

Starting Tuesday, traffic traveling eastbound on Highway 46 in the Cholame area will detour onto a portion of newly built lanes that will “eventually become westbound lanes” of the highway, Caltrans said.

The temporary traffic switch “will include two-way travel from just east of the Shandon Rest Area” to just west of the Cholame “Y” where Highways 41 and 46 meet in northern San Luis Obispo County.

This traffic switch will be in place until the summer “while construction proceeds on the new eastbound lanes of the highway,” Caltrans said in the news release.

Travelers will still be able to access businesses on Bitterwater Road and can reach the closed Jack Ranch Cafe where the James Dean memorial is located via a temporary driveway built just east of Bitterwater Road, according to Caltrans. Dean died in a crash on Sept. 30, 1955, at the Cholame “Y,” where work is proceeding on a flyover interchange to Highway 41.

When completed, the widening project will expand about 3.5 miles of Highway 46 East up the Antelope Grade on the way to Bakersfield from two lanes to four — stretching from west of Davis Road to west of Antelope Road.

This follows a previous project that widened 5 miles of the highway from the Shandon Rest Area to east of the Jack Ranch Cafe.

“Upon completion, Highway 46 East will be a 4-lane divided expressway from U.S. 101 in Paso Robles to Highway 5 near Lost Hills, Kern County,” Caltrans said in a previous news release.

Irvine-based Atkinson Construction will complete the $116 million widening project by winter this year, Caltrans said.