A Victorville woman pleaded guilty Thursday to gross vehicular manslaughter in a July 2011 crash in a Riverside construction zone that fatally injured a freeway worker from Beaumont, according to court officials.

Brandi Lynne Holmes, 21, was driving a 1998 Mazda Protégé north on Van Buren Boulevard the night of July 20, and turned left to travel westbound on the Van Buren Boulevard on-ramp to the 91, according to the California Highway Patrol.

But the on-ramp was closed and under construction with workers on scene. Holmes drove past the freeway closure at a high rate of speed when she struck a moving Caterpillar loader, according to the CHP.

The Mazda then struck a concrete K-rail and a construction worker, later identified as Barry Robert Steele, 51, of Beaumont, according to the CHP.

Following the crash, Holmes tried to walk or run away, but she was apprehended by the Highway Patrol.

Steele died four days later of injuries he sustained in the crash, according to the coroner.

Holmes was determined to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, California Highway Patrol Officer Sylvia Vargas said.

Holmes' right front passenger, Cordelia Moore of Riverside, was transported to Riverside Community Hospital for treatment of moderate injuries, Vargas said.

Steele was not a Caltrans worker, but state transportation officials were concerned by the incident because three Caltrans workers had been killed in the three months before the crash in San Diego County, Terri Kasinga of Caltrans District 8 said.

Steele was working for a company called Skanska, contracted on the ramp project by the city of Riverside, Kasinga said.

The negotiated plea Holmes and her attorney agreed to includes a sentence of 18 years in prison. She has a sentencing hearing March 14 in Riverside.