My family used to live on the land where Newport is being realigned to (the new road actually goes right through where our house used to be). We try to keep up on what's happening as much as possible. I can't give you any exact information or sources, but in the past few weeks my step-dad has mentioned a few things he's found out.
For one, the realignment project is suspended right now because the housing developer does not have the funds to continue construction (whoever is building the houses is also building the road). They will be relying on selling many of those homes in order to continue to fund the road. Unfortunately they have had some trouble getting permits to build the model homes, which has kept them from selling any plots.
The new intersection equipment that was built a few weeks ago about half a mile from Murietta Hot Springs Rd. was supposedly paid for by a private business.
All in all, last we heard no one really knew when work would continue, let alone when it would be finished. It is a possibility that they will start building model homes in the next few weeks though, which should get the ball rolling.
Like I said, this is all word-of-mouth, so take it with a grain of salt, but we are pretty confident it is a pretty accurate description of the situation.