If you drive U.S. 199 east from Gasquet this fall, you hit flaggers, a 35 mph work zone and about ten minutes of waiting at the Middle Fork Smith River bridge sites. Starting in January 2027 at the earliest, one short stretch called The Narrows gets four-hour full closures from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday. Today the cost of the drive is a short wait. After January, the question is which day you're driving.
That matters more than any one flagger stop. A Friday trip to Grants Pass and a Wednesday-morning appointment in Medford will be two very different drives for at least the next couple of years.
What You're Driving Through Right Now
Caltrans' 197/199 Safe STAA Access project covers seven spots. Two are on Route 197 near Ruby Van Deventer County Park. Five are on U.S. 199 in the Patrick Creek area and at Washington Curve. McCullough Construction, Inc. holds the contract. Caltrans lists its current value at $54,294,800 in its FY 2025–26 report.
On September 1, Caltrans project manager Izzy Konopa told the Del Norte Local Transportation Commission that crews were working at four locations. Here is where each site stood and what comes next.
| Location | Work | Timing as of September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Route 197, mileposts 3–4 | Shoulder widening, vegetation removal, paving, striping, drainage | Expected done late October |
| U.S. 199, milepost 20.5 near Patrick Creek Narrows | Widening, realignment, retaining wall | Expected done late October |
| Middle Fork Smith River bridge, near milepost 24 | Drilling, rock excavation, realignment, new bridge | About 20% complete |
| U.S. 199, mileposts 22.5–25.5 | Widening, retaining wall, guardrail | 2027 and 2028 |
| U.S. 199, milepost 26.5 | Rock and roadway excavation, guardrail | Starting 2029 |
Caltrans' road bulletin for October 2 through 8 shows the same pattern. One-way traffic control with expected 10-minute delays is set near Middle Fork Smith River Bridge 1-19 and between Blue Slide and Bridge 1-15, and another flagged zone sits on Route 197 near Ginny Lane, weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Work-zone speed limits on both highways have dropped to 35 mph.
So far, the project costs you a few minutes each way. The table also shows that the Route 197 and milepost 20.5 work should wrap up just as the hardest site gets started.
The Stretch That Sets the Schedule
Konopa called it "Location 6": postmile 22.7 to 23, The Narrows. "The big location everyone's probably most interested in," he said. The work there includes rock blasting, excavation, roadway widening and guardrail, and he said it would start in January. Caltrans' plan calls for cutting the rock wall at the pinch point back about 8 feet to make room for 4-foot shoulders.
That blasting is the reason for the closures. Konopa described the closed section as running from near Patrick Creek Lodge to just past the Middle Fork Smith River bridge. Here's how the week would work under the plan he presented:
- Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: full closure when one is scheduled.
- Friday through Monday: one-way traffic control with about 10-minute delays.
- Notice: 30 days ahead, through the project website, social media, radio, and message signs in several places, Oregon included.
Caltrans says the full closures won't happen every week and will continue as needed through 2028. The schedule has already moved once. The closures were first expected to start this year, but late this summer Caltrans District 1 said difficult drilling, limited equipment, and safety and environmental concerns had pushed them back.
No Exceptions Once It Closes
The line from September that matters most to anyone living upriver is this one. "It's also been communicated to our emergency management partners, there's not going to be any exceptions for passage through the full closure once it's in place," Konopa said. "So they're going to have to make alternative plans if they need to get through." Caltrans' project page says emergency vehicles will be accommodated, but its FAQ also says no traffic can get through during some blasting and rock-excavation closures.
For ordinary errands, this turns a four-hour midday window into a planning job. Tamera Leighton, executive director of the Del Norte Local Transportation Commission, told Redwood Voice in January that the closures would complicate her own family trips, including taking her elderly parents to appointments in Medford. She still supported moving ahead for safety.
Not everyone found the plan easy to follow. District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard called Konopa's explanation of the closures "clear as mud" and asked him to come back with better information. The county calendar shows the commission's next meeting on October 6, 2026. Until Caltrans posts a firm start date with its 30 days' notice, treat everything about January as a forecast.
Where the Line of Cars Would Wait
Leighton drew on the 2021 Last Chance Grade landslide, when cars lined up near South Beach and down U.S. 101 waiting for scheduled openings. For The Narrows, she suggested holding traffic at the east end of the four-lane section past Gasquet. That way cars wouldn't be stopped in the tight lanes closer to the work.
"There would be plenty of room to turn around (and) it's pretty close to the beginning of the construction anyway," she told commissioners.
So far that's only a suggestion. Konopa said he would bring it to the Caltrans District 1 resident engineer. If Caltrans adopts it, the place where Gasquet-area drivers would wait or turn around is a stretch they already know well.
Patrick Creek Lodge Sits at the Edge
The west end of the closure zone is the Patrick Creek Lodge area. In June, the Illinois Valley News reported that new owners Alex and Ryan Posner had reopened the restaurant and bar, open Friday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with rooms and cabins available year-round. Under the current plan, those Friday-to-Sunday dining hours fall on one-way-control days, outside the Tuesday-to-Thursday closure window. The hours come from a June report, so call ahead before you drive up.
Patrick Creek Campground, where Patrick Creek meets the Middle Fork Smith River, was listed in the Forest Service's 2026 season guide as open May 15 through September 21. On that schedule, it's already closed for the year by the time any full closure could start.
Why the Timeline Runs to 2029 or Later
Gasquet residents will likely be living with this calendar for years. Caltrans' project page estimates completion by the end of 2029. Konopa told the commission in September that the overall project would be done in 2030.
The project's goal is to let industry-standard STAA trucks use the corridor. Caltrans says they're generally about 5 feet or less longer than the trucks allowed on these routes now. It also says that communities without STAA access can face higher costs to move goods, because cargo may have to be shifted onto shorter trucks.
The road here was long. Caltrans held public meetings in 2008 and 2010 and finished environmental review in 2013. Friends of Del Norte, EPIC and the Center for Biological Diversity challenged that review and won a preliminary injunction in 2014. Caltrans and NMFS then prepared a new biological assessment in 2017, and a court later ruled for the agencies and lifted the injunction. Caltrans says the project moved through more approvals in 2023.
Some people along the corridor say the outreach didn't reach them. In April, Washington Flat resident Kiley Hudson told Redwood Voice she had only just learned of the project and that many residents were "in the dark." Residents also pointed out that the area and its population had changed since the early meetings. North Bank Road resident and Gasquet property owner Lupe Gutierrez started a petition raising concerns about noise, blasting, landslide risk after wildfire, redwood roots and possible spills.
Caltrans asks travelers to check its District 1 social media, the QuickMap app and the weekly Caltrans District 1 Road Information Bulletin before heading out. The current edition covers Friday, October 2 through Thursday, October 8. The bulletin is also where the first firm closure date will most likely appear, at least 30 days before any Tuesday when The Narrows actually shuts.
If you own along the 199 corridor and wonder how years of construction might affect what your Gasquet place is worth, or how it rents as a cabin, Green Pacific Real Estate Team is glad to help. We'll put together a free local market valuation and give you a plainspoken read on what we're seeing up the river.
