Those who drive Highway 50 in the El Dorado Hills area face shifting lanes, grated and grooved pavement and frustration as construction continues in an effort to improve traffic flow.

The El Dorado County Department of Transportation’s HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane addition to both the west and east bound lanes project, Phase 1, isn’t expected to be completed until Dec. 2010.

“It’s a nuisance at times, with the lanes shifting and the barricades that slow traffic,” said El Dorado Hills resident Melinda Pratt. “I know in the long run it will improve traffic, but right now it’s just a pain.”

Phase 1 of the project encompasses extending the car pool lane on Highway 50 from its current termination location just west of the El Dorado Hills Boulevard exit to west of the Bass Lake Road exit.

The Latrobe Road crossing that takes traffic over El Dorado Hills Boulevard is being replaced as well as the eastbound Highway 50 offramp, said John Kahling, supervising civil engineer with El Dorado County Department of Transportation.

Construction on the first phase began in early 2009 and for the most part has stayed on schedule, but there have been a few stumbling blocks, he said.

“There have been a few obstacles,” Kahling said. “The first and most difficult was the state freezing our funding during the budget crisis.”

The majority of the funding for the highway project is being provided by Proposition 1B approved by voters in November 2008.

The second “issue” has been the deterioration of the asphalt near the Latrobe overcrossing.

“We did our grinding work and we had a couple days where we had some asphalt break up and caused a lot of difficulty for the traveling public,” Kahling said. “We’ve been pushing hard to get those issues taken care of before winter gets here.”

Highway 50, especially in the El Dorado County area, is experiencing an increase in commuter traffic and is an area expected to have significant residential and employment growth in the future.

Phase 2, expected to begin in late 2010, will extend the car pool lanes from west of Bass Lake Road to just west of Cameron Park Drive.