El Dorado County public safety and transportation officials are bracing for perhaps the heaviest traffic in the county's history as motorists travel on Highway 50 next week for the opening of a new Indian casino.

The Red Hawk Casino is scheduled to open at 7 p.m. Dec. 17 off Highway 50 in Shingle Springs, about nine miles west of Placerville.

Capt. Bill Donovan, commander of the California Highway Patrol's Placerville office, said officers will begin directing traffic at 9 a.m. at the main intersection leading to the casino.

The goal, he said, is to keep vehicles moving on Highway 50. If traffic begins to back up, Donovan said, the offramps leading to the casino will be closed temporarily and freeway traffic waved through.

El Dorado County residents are encouraged to avoid the freeway and use alternate routes, if possible, on opening day.

Donovan, along with representatives of the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department, Department of Transportation, El Dorado County Fire Protection District and El Dorado Transit briefed the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday about their preparations for the casino's opening.

The 270,000-square-foot casino on the Shingle Springs Rancheria will feature an eight-story parking structure with 3,200 spaces.

Donovan said those spaces are likely to fill quickly on opening day. He said the structure is equipped with sensors so casino officials can tell how many spaces are vacant.

Offramp closures likely would last 10 to 15 minutes, he said.

Donovan said traffic alerts will be displayed on an electronic message sign on Highway 50 in El Dorado Hills.

In addition, he said, the casino has rented two changeable message signs that can be positioned at critical points along the freeway as needed.

"By 7 p.m.," he said, "we will have 10 officers on the ground to keep traffic moving in and about the casino."

A CHP helicopter and fixed-wing airplane also will patrol the area.

Undersheriff Fred Kollar said the county's Emergency Operations Center will be staffed 12 hours a day for the first two weeks of the casino's operation.

Three deputies also will be on the casino grounds 12 hours a day through Jan. 1.

The casino is expected to open with 1,750 employees, making it the county's largest private employer.


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Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 608-7451.