New lanes open on 405 Freeway through Westside

After five years of construction, commuters this morning are using new lanes along the 405 Freeway built as part of a widening project.

New carpool and exit lanes made their debut on the southbound 405 Freeway between the 10 and 90 freeways over the weekend. The existing traffic lanes were also widened as part of the project.

It's part of a larger effort to widen the 405 Freeway through the Westside, eventually bringing seamless carpool lanes along the freeway between Orange County and the Valley. Lanes northbound between the 10 and 90 are expected to open in the coming weeks.

The widening project, which cost $167 million, comes to one of Southern California's most congested freeways. The nearly $1-billion widening of the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass is about to begin.

-- Shelby Grad

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Comments

[Ugh]

A whole lot of construction tie-ups and money spent...when will people get it?!? Most people in LA simply do NOT carpool! They have their own lives, their own schedules, their own station preferences, their own errands to run. To alleviate traffic they should just use this as a new additional lane. I'd say every day on the 405 I see at least 50% of the people using the carpool lane that are the sole occupants of the vehicle! The same folks are going to be stuck in the existing "regular" lanes who choose to actually not break the law---this new lane will be useless!

[stewart]

This really great, and a diamond lane too!

All after what? 20 years?

Guess a monorail down the center of the freeway from San Franciso to San Diego and Santa Monica to Riverside or beyond where the right of way is already bought and paid for would be a science fiction scenario huh?

[steve tucker]

What a complete waste of our money. How many of you reading this will use a carpool lane? 2%. The fact is this feel good, politically correct, concept from the 70's is an abysmal failure. To begin with it is has nothing to do with car-pooling. The right to drive on these near empty lanes lanes is determined by how many passengers are in the vehicle. Not by proving that a car has been left at home and its passengers have pooled together in another car. In counting passengers, including under age kids, non-licensed and non car owners, there is no proof that that they gave up a car to car pool. In fact in most cases the decision of sharing the vehicle, was made irregardless of there being a car pool lane. Its just a happy coincidence that allows them to whiz down these near empty, multi-million dollar lanes. So next time you sit stewing in the same congested traffic lanes , think about how you can change this.

[Sam]

"$1 BILLION will be spent for the "widening of the 405" is about to begin."

Are you KIDDING!!!!!!

Just what we need...ENCOURAGE MORE disgusting cars to choke this city to death with pollution.

A Monorail shooting the entire length of the 405 through Los Angeles would cost 1/3 that and completed in half the time.

People here need to be FORCED from their selfish cars through better mass transit and tolls. (excluding the half a million cars added to the infrastructure from 1 million illegal aliens)

These useless politicians have become as dirty and crooked as Mexico...oh, I almost forgot, half of Mexico has walked across the border. Just take a look at who is running California...then you will have your answer as to why it has become a failed cesspool with Americans fleeing like refugees.

[Commuter]

...and somehow they managed to add 20 minutes onto my evening commute. Well done, Caltrans.

Why did they reduce the number of lanes feeding into the 405N from the 10 West? When there were two lanes, it only took a few minutes to get on the 405 from the 10. Now it's 20 minutes parked on the 10 West. They have transferred the problems with the 405 to the 10.

[Al]

This morning it took me 55 minutes to get from Torrance to West LA, it usually takes me 1hr. Was it thanks to the new lane that was open or the coming holiday?

[D]

This money should have been spent on a rail line connecting the valley to LAX

[SeanBoy]

I'll see the day of a 30 lanes freeway and still be stuck in a traffic jam.

[Eric of Reseda]

Anybody who travels the 404 knows that this "widening" will make virtually no impact on the 405 commute. Bandaid solutions. Railcars from the Valley to the Westside, from Hollywood to Santa Monica, this is what this city desperately needs. GET MORE CARS OFF THE ROAD!

[Eric of Reseda]

That would be "the 405".

[lsm]

Building freeways in the LA basin made sense a half century ago when our population density was low, land was plentiful and gasoline was cheap. It bought us several decades of an enviable suburban life style with major urban amenities. Squeezing new lanes onto existing freeways makes no sense now when our population density is high, undeveloped land has vanished and gasoline is ever more expensive. Rather than foolishly throw our money at freeway infrastructure which will never again work no matter how expensive the band-aids we try to stick on, we need wisely to invest our money in robust rail alternatives which will carry us through the next century.

[Jage]

I've been commuting from the Valley to LAX for 20 plus years. A great deal of the cars on the 405 when I get on at Victory Bl. are still on it when I get off at Imperial Hwy. Why is there no metro line directly from the Valley to LAX and the So. Bay?
BTW, my commute takes longer now. Can't figure it out. Up until 2 weeks ago, I could put my car on cruise control after the Sepulveda pass and SAVE GAS. Lately, even today with the newly opened carpool lane, there are new numerous stop-and-go areas. What the heck?

[Won't help]

As long as the north and south-bound lanes of the 405 merge from 4 lanes down to 3 (or 5 down to 4 now) at the intersection with the 10, traffic on this stretch of the 405 will always be backed up and slow. Why couldn't Caltrans keep the same number of lanes through the underpass with the 10?

[Willy Fojas]

Finally. Its been done for weeks. It will alleviate the travel for the few that go down that route daily, and can carpool. There's also a northbound section that has been completed, do they know when that's to open?

[KZinCC]

Fighting traffic and excessive automobile usage by adding freeway lanes is like fighting obesity by buying ever larger belts.

Good Luck.

OBTW, Sam, Bite Me.

[Heather]

Glad that the carpool lanes opened. Maybe someone can explain why the 405 has been so backed up that it is affecting the east/west traffic flow??