Los Angeles transportation officials are alerting I-405 and regional freeway motorists of an 80-hour northbound
I-405 Freeway closure operation in the Sepulveda Pass this Presidents’ Day weekend, February 14 to 18, 2014, and asking motorists to help prevent multi-hour freeway delays.
The closure consists of a partial daytime lane reduction and a full nighttime closure of the freeway’s northbound lanes between Getty Center Dr and Ventura Bl. Approx 5.6 miles long, the closure equals two-thirds of the length of the entire I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project.
During daytime hours, two northbound lanes will remain open while three lanes will be closed. During nighttime hours, all five northbound freeway lanes will be closed. While the southbound lanes will remain open during daytime hours of the closure, up to two lanes will be closed during nighttime hours.
Sections of the closure will reopen as they are completed.
Sepulveda Bl will remain at full capacity during the closure, although that street does not have the capacity to move all the traffic diverted from the northbound lane closures.
Traffic control officers provided by the Los Angeles Dept of Transportation will help guide drivers at each I-405 northbound on-ramp.
Transportation officials ask drivers detouring from the closed I-10 connectors to use freeways rather than local streets.
80-Hour Lane Reduction, Ramp and Connector Configurations
Due to dynamic conditions such as safety concerns or traffic conditions, all closures are subject to change.
The closure-beginning at 10pm Friday, February 14 and ending on Tuesday, February 18 at 6am-allows workers to excavate sections of the future high-occupancy vehicle lane roadway surface and repave those sections, key activities for finishing the project by its scheduled mid-2014 completion date. The 80-hour closure will eliminate several 55-hour closures from the project schedule.
Full northbound nighttime freeway closures will occur at these times:
Friday night, February 14-1 to 6am
Saturday night, February 15-2 to 7am.
Sunday night, February 16-midnight to 5am
Monday night, February 17-midnight to 6am
The designated alternative route for nighttime full closures will be for motorists to take the I-405 northbound off-ramp to westbound Wilshire, take Sepulveda Bl north, returning to the northbound I-405 at the Greenleaf northbound on-ramp.
The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), in conjunction with California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), and a host of law enforcement and emergency response agencies throughout Los Angeles County are asking drivers to avoid traveling northbound through West Los Angeles and the Sepulveda Pass during the three-day President’s Day weekend.
Because of the closures on the heavily traveled northbound lanes of the I-405 and the possibility of major traffic delays, these agencies are asking drivers to eliminate unnecessary automobile trips, avoid the area and/or divert to other freeways.
Without these diversions, traffic conditions on local streets and freeways within the Southern California region could result in multi-hour delays.
Motorists who travel during the February 14 to 18 weekend are advised to prepare their itineraries in advance, monitor real-time traffic conditions prior to beginning their trips, and follow alternative routes. Caltrans computerized message signs along freeways in neighboring counties and other metropolitan regions in Southern California will inform drivers in advance of the closure.
While the I-405 project has completed multiple complex tasks, the contractor must now finish the future high-occupancy vehicle lane between the I-10 and US 101.
In the event of inclement weather during the 80-hour closure, the project will commence continuous weekend closures of the northbound freeway starting the following weekend, February 21 for up to four weekends to complete the originally intended work.