Granite Construction Company has been awarded a $29.5 million contract by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to construct a new four-lane highway on State Route 78 near the town of Brawley, about 100 miles south of Palm Springs in Southern California. Granite will book the project into backlog during the fourth quarter of 2010.

Work will begin with excavating the current road and prepping the surrounding area for the additional lanes. Granite will be using hot-mix asphalt and continuously reinforced concrete pavement to construct the four new lanes and a new overpass. The majority of materials will be provided by Granite’s Indio facility.

Work is estimated to begin February 2011 and be completed by June of 2012.