Westside traffic jammed amid 405 Freeway construction
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Traffic was gridlocked in parts of Westwood and on L.A.’s Westside on Saturday as construction work on the northbound 405 Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass continues.
Three lanes of the northbound 405 were blocked off for the repairs and traffic was backed up for miles. Several surface streets around the freeway were also jammed.
Construction work on a 2.4-mile stretch of the freeway will cause shutdowns of some or all northbound lanes at different times throughout the weekend.
During the day the northbound freeway is reduced from five lanes to two between the Montana Avenue entrance ramp and the Getty Center Drive exit ramp in West Los Angeles until Monday morning, Metro officials said. The lane closures began Friday night.
The northbound 405 will be closed completely in the construction zone from 2 to 7 a.m. Sunday and from midnight to 5 a.m. Monday, officials said.
All northbound freeway lanes and ramps should be open by 5 a.m. Monday, Metro officials said. If rain affects the work, the operation will shift about a week, officials said.
As of Saturday morning, the work was proceeding on schedule, said Dave Sotero, a Metro spokesman. All northbound lanes were closed late Friday night and reopened at 5:30 a.m. Saturday, he said.
The construction work is part of the 405 Freeway Sepulveda Pass Improvement Project, in which a carpool lane will be created and the freeway will be realigned. Construction crews had finished grinding pavement and had begun placing new pavement by Saturday morning, Sotero said.
Traffic was moving slowly Saturday morning, Sotero said. It took freeway motorists about an hour to travel from Venice Boulevard to Getty Center Drive, he said.
Motorists should expect delays throughout the weekend and have been advised to take Sepulveda Boulevard or to find alternate routes, said Marc Littman, a Metro spokesman.
Here are some images aggregated from social media: The construction could cause SigAlert conditions, Littman said.
ALSO:
Pedestrian struck and killed on 5 Freeway
Californians weigh in on White House urging justices to reject Prop. 8
At least two injured in explosion at Sport Chalet in La Canada Flintridge
-- Hailey Branson-Potts
twitter.com/haileybranson
