BEAUMONT, Calif. — Trucks running westbound on State Route 60 through Beaumont lost one of their ramps on Monday, November 9, and they will not get it back until spring 2027. The westbound SR-60 on- and off-ramps at Western Knolls Avenue are now closed to trucks, freight vehicles and tractor-trailers, around the clock, as construction advances on the SR-60/Potrero Boulevard Interchange Project in Riverside County, Land Line Media reported.
Source: Land Line Media
Truck traffic through the area is being diverted to Potrero Boulevard and Oak Valley Parkway to reach Interstate 10 before reconnecting with westbound SR-60. Passenger vehicles are still allowed to use the Western Knolls ramps during the closure, which transport officials say will remain in place 24 hours a day and is expected to last through spring 2027.
A freight corridor in the middle of a rebuild
The closure is part of Phase II of the SR-60/Potrero Boulevard Interchange Project, a $64 million investment led by the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) and the City of Beaumont in partnership with Caltrans. This phase is building a six-ramp partial cloverleaf interchange, realigning Western Knolls Avenue and widening Potrero Boulevard to six lanes, according to RCTC.
Source: Riverside County Transportation Commission
The project sits on SR-60 in Beaumont, between Jack Rabbit Trail and the SR-60/Interstate 10 junction, in the San Gorgonio Pass at the eastern edge of the Inland Empire. The City of Beaumont finished Phase I — a new six-lane Potrero Boulevard overcrossing — in 2019. Construction on Phase II began in May 2026, and RCTC says the finished interchange is expected to open to drivers in 2028. Dense truck traffic is normal on this stretch: transportation officials estimate more than 20,000 trucks a day use SR-60 in Riverside County, as much as 13 percent of all vehicles on the highway.
What drivers need to do now
Construction activity at the ramps — including repaving, lane striping and utility relocation — is scheduled on weekdays, but the truck closure itself does not lift at night or on weekends: it is a continuous, 24/7 restriction. Dispatchers and drivers who normally exit or enter westbound SR-60 at Western Knolls should build the Potrero Boulevard and Oak Valley Parkway detour to I-10 into their trip plans for the coming months, and expect the pattern to stay until spring 2027.
Westbound SR-60 trucks: use Potrero Boulevard and Oak Valley Parkway to reach Interstate 10, then reconnect to westbound SR-60. The Western Knolls Avenue ramps remain open to passenger vehicles only.
Phase II is funded through the City of Beaumont Capital Improvement Plan, the Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee program and the state’s SB 1 Trade Corridor Enhancement Program. State records show the California Transportation Commission allocated $33.5 million to the project’s construction phase in June 2025. RCTC says the finished interchange is meant to enhance regional mobility, improve access to SR-60, reduce congestion and support the San Gorgonio Pass area’s ongoing residential and economic growth.
For the Punjabi owner-operators and fleet drivers who run the Inland Empire warehouse belt every day, SR-60 is one of the main east–west freight routes linking the logistics corridor to I-10 and the desert routes east. A months-long ramp closure on a corridor carrying 20,000 trucks a day means the detour will be felt in delivery schedules and fuel costs well beyond Beaumont itself, even though the mainline lanes of SR-60 remain open.
What happens next: the truck closure is expected to stay in force through spring 2027 while ramp and interchange work continues, with the full Phase II interchange due to open in 2028. RCTC publishes construction-activity and closure updates on its project page, and drivers should check it before dispatching through the Beaumont pass. No end date more precise than spring 2027 has been announced for the Western Knolls truck restriction.