County says Harupa Road grade‑separation will finish in late 2027 after years of delay and rising costs

Riverside County transportation officials on Thursday told the Jurupa Valley City Council that the long‑running Harupa Road railroad grade‑separation project now carries an estimated cost of $184,000,000 and is expected to be finished in late 2027, after a series of schedule slips and added requirements from Union Pacific Railroad.

The update, presented by John Ashlock, Construction Engineering Division Manager for the Riverside County Transportation Department, described completed work — including one half of the Van Buren Boulevard bridge, a connector road and a nearly finished pump station — and the remaining tasks, which county staff said hinge on relocating active tracks onto temporary alignments before the new Union Pacific bridge and the northbound Van Buren bridge can be built.

The exchange with council members focused on the reasons for repeated timeline extensions, the effect on nearby businesses and whether additional financial relief or communications with merchants can be expanded. County officials said the primary drivers of delay and cost growth were COVID‑era price and labor increases, later Union Pacific design and safety requirements, and the time it took to negotiate the construction and maintenance agreement with Union Pacific — an agreement Ashlock said was approved in January 2024.

"The project initially started with a cost of $133,400,000 and it has increased considerably to $184,000,000," Ashlock said, adding that changes also reflected new Union Pacific and AREMA standards and coordination work on utilities and rights of way.

Why the project slipped: county explanation and timeline

County staff outlined a sequence that city leaders said repeatedly produced added years: design and construction work that could proceed outside railroad right‑of‑way moved forward beginning in 2021 to avoid losing state grant funding, but work inside Union Pacific’s right‑of‑way was constrained until the railroad agreement was finalized. That kept crews from setting a firm schedule for track work.

Hector Dhalla, deputy director of transportation for Riverside County, said the county and contractor only recently had a reliable, complete schedule because the contractor could not finalize certain sequencing until rail and utility details were resolved. "We meet weekly. We review the schedule, usually monthly," Dhalla told the council when asked how frequently county leadership reviews progress.

County staff also listed recent construction milestones: Granite Construction received the contract and began work in July 2021; in January 2024 crews completed about 1,500 feet of reinforced‑concrete box structure under Harupa Road; in August 2024 crews finished roughly 660 feet of retaining walls and substantially completed the pump station (the pump station will be tested and tied into the undercrossing late in the project). The county said temporary tracks are being built now to allow train movements to shift west so crews can construct the railroad bridge and the remaining Van Buren bridge span.

Schedule and near‑term milestones

Ashlock and county staff gave these near‑term dates and items: - Activation of new traffic signals at the Harupa/Pedley intersection: expected within about a month (county said July). - Completion of remaining Van Buren and railroad bridge work and full opening of Harupa Road: late 2027 (county estimates). - Pump station: substantially complete above ground but will not be fully functional until the undercrossing is finished.

Business impacts and funding questions

Council members and multiple public commenters pressed county staff about economic hardship to businesses adjacent to the work zone. Restaurant and shopping‑center owners told the council they have seen sharp drops in sales and said earlier one‑time payments or settlements distributed during initial right‑of‑way work did not always reach tenants.

County staff said there is no blanket new funding for businesses and that prior right‑of‑way settlements were paid on a case‑by‑case basis; some businesses had accepted early settlements, others had opted to wait for a later offer. Staff said a "loss of goodwill/loss of income" process exists and that property‑by‑property discussions are possible with right‑of‑way agents, but that any additional compensation would require separate review and authority.

"If they already received a settlement, then there will not be another settlement available, as far as I know," a county official said, adding that some businesses had chosen to delay settlement negotiations until the project concluded.

Council requests and county commitments

Council members pressed for more accountability and for better communications with residents and businesses. Among informal directions discussed during the meeting, county staff agreed to: hold a stakeholder meeting with affected businesses, make right‑of‑way agents available for one‑on‑one consultations, and provide more frequent public reporting. Council members requested county follow ups every three to four months and asked to receive the contractor's schedule so the council and public can track milestones and closures.

County officials said they will provide three‑week look‑ahead schedules and monthly reports to the city on request and noted a project website and hotline — hupergradeseparation.com and the project phone line — as public contacts for current information. County staff also said they will continue to coordinate daily with Union Pacific when work touches railroad right‑of‑way and that safety and limited windows for working near active tracks remain a constraint because roughly 20 trains pass the site daily.

What remains public and open

County staff reiterated that some project elements were added or accelerated using the grade separation project budget — for example, Van Buren widening and signal upgrades at other nearby intersections — and that those additions increased the scope. The county said it has not lost the primary grants but has had to request extensions for some funding tied to construction milestones.

The presentation and back‑and‑forth ran more than an hour and included a mix of technical updates, schedule explanations and repeated calls from council members and business owners for clearer outreach and potential financial relief. The county said it will return with updated schedules and has offered to convene a meeting with merchants and property owners to discuss individual circumstances.

Where to get updates

Project information and the hotline were cited on the record: hupergradeseparation.com (county project site) and the project hotline for questions and to request meetings with right‑of‑way staff.

Ending

Council members said they want the county to return with written schedules and suggested quarterly appearances to keep the council and public informed as work advances. County staff said they will continue to look for efficiencies and will report back with additional details on funding pathways for affected businesses if available.