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Updated 5/17/11: Plan now for huge summer 405 closing

Updated 3/03/11: A sharp U-turn on Mulholland

Updated 12/08/10: Wilshire 405 flyover ramps coming

Updated 10/12/10: Skirball Bridge demo—and detours—begin

Updated 05/05/10: Demolition time on Sunset

Updated 3/11/10: Some Westside bus passengers will soon be taking the scenic route.
And Metro would like to apologize for that in advance.

Starting in mid-March, patrons of various Metro bus lines in the Sepulveda Pass and West Los Angeles could be facing delays and detours due to the 405 Sepulveda Pass Widening Project, which will add a 10-mile northbound carpool lane to the freeway.

Bus lines that travel on the freeway and through the construction area will be affected off and on until the project’s completion, now scheduled for 2013.

Lines slated to be affected are as follows:
• Line 2-302: Sunset Boulevard
• Lines 4 and 704: Santa Monica Boulevard
• Lines 20, 720 and 920: Wilshire Boulevard
• Line 761: Sepulveda Boulevard and 405

Updates also are being posted on Twitter. Metro’s hotline for the project can be reached at (213) 922-3665.

Updated 2/9/10: Work on the 405 carpool lane project has been called off for tonight due to the rain. Weather permitting, it will resume Wednesday evening. Full information can be found here Updates also are being posted on Twitter. Metro’s hotline for the project can be reached at (213) 922-3665.

Updated 1/27/10: After-hours work on the northbound 405 carpool project is expected to resume tonight, Jan. 27, with the full freeway closing from midnight to 5 a.m. between the Santa Monica Freeway and Santa Monica Boulevard. Work is to continue on Thursday and Friday nights, with full freeway closures from midnight to 5 a.m. in the segment that runs from Santa Monica Boulevard to Wilshire Boulevard. All lanes should be reopened by 5 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 30. Full information on the closures, including detour maps, can be found here. Updates also are being posted on Twitter. Metro’s hotline for the project can be reached at (213) 922-3665.

Updated 1/22/10: If the rain ever stops, after-hours work to create a northbound carpool lane on the 405 will resume next week with at least three nights of full lane closures planned from midnight to 5 a.m. The work begins at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 25, with all lanes closing after midnight on the segment of the freeway that runs from the Santa Monica Freeway to Santa Monica Boulevard. The next two nights will be devoted to the segment between Santa Monica Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard, with full freeway closures again planned from midnight to 5 a.m. Workers need to delineate new temporary lanes and install concrete barriers so construction on the 10-mile carpool lane can begin in earnest. Once the temporary lanes are in place, and a construction zone is established, northbound drivers will have the usual five lanes available to them during the three-year project. Full information on the closures, including detour maps, can be found here. Updates also are being posted on Twitter. Metro’s hotline for the project can be reached at (213) 922-3665.

Updated 1/13/09: Because of rain, work on the Sepulveda Pass project to create a northbound carpool lane is now expected to begin on Thursday, Jan. 14, at 7 p.m. The first full freeway closure will take place in the early morning hours of Jan. 15, with all lanes scheduled to reopen by 6 a.m. The work will take place on the segment of the freeway between the Santa Monica Freeway (10) and Santa Monica Boulevard. Full information on the closures, including detour maps, can be found here. Updates also are being posted on Twitter. Metro’s hotline for the project can be reached at (213) 922-3665.

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Surviving the night work on the 405

The lanes on the northbound 405 are about to get skinnier.

And, as with any New Year’s reducing regimen, there will be some pain before the gain.

Starting at 7 p.m. next Tuesday, Jan. 12, night crews will begin grinding off existing lane markings and restriping them in a narrower configuration to make way for a construction zone on the freeway. It’s the kick-off to eight weeks of intensive nighttime work on the 405 Sepulveda Pass widening project—which will ultimately create a 10-mile northbound carpool lane on the 405 between the Santa Monica (10) and Ventura (101) freeways.

After the new lanes are delineated, workers beginning Feb. 8 will spend four weeks installing “k-rail”—concrete barriers to create a work zone for the project. The work will take place from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. on weekdays through early March, although bad weather could delay things. The entire freeway will need to be closed at various times during the next eight weeks; those closures will take place only between midnight and 5 a.m. Work will proceed in segments, and maps of detours for affected areas are expected to be posted here later this week.

The goal is to keep the same number of lanes available during construction as there are now—a crucial consideration given the heavy usage of the freeway. When the project is finished in the spring of 2013, it will provide a connecting link in the freeway’s carpool lane system extending north from the Orange County line. In the course of the project, workers also will realign 27 on- and off-ramps; widen 13 overpasses and structures; build some 18 miles of retaining and sound walls, and remove and replace bridge overcrossings at the Skirball Center, Sunset Boulevard and Mulholland Drive.

To help ease the pain—and to provide the opportunity for affected residents to troubleshoot the project as it moves forward—monthly meetings are being held with representatives of homeowner groups.

Saying farewell to a whole decade means a whole lotta revelry this New Year’s Eve. So if you plan on partying like it’s 2009, here’s a tip: leave your car at home.

Going Metro is not only the safer and more environmentally-appealing way to go—it’s free during prime revelry hours and open all night. (Good news if your resolutions happen to include going green, being sociable and saving money in 2010.)

All Metro trains and buses, including the Orange Line busway in the San Fernando Valley, will be offering free rides from 9 p.m. Thursday till 2 a.m. Friday. The Orange Line, along with Metro’s Red, Purple, Blue, Green and Gold Line trains, will be running every 20 minutes from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., with regular fares kicking in after 2 a.m.

Then, if you want to cheer on Sully (a.k.a. hero pilot Captain Chesley Sullenberger III) as he leads the 121st Rose Parade starting at 8 a.m., Metro’s Gold Line will be running extra trains into Pasadena on New Year’s Day. Later in the day, a train-shuttle combo will get you to the Rose Bowl, where the Ohio State Buckeyes are playing the Oregon Ducks starting at 2:10 p.m.

For a full rundown on the public transportation options as Los Angeles rings in 2010, check out Metro’s blog The Source or call 1-800-COMMUTE (266-6883).

The Sepulveda Pass—three words that strike terror in the hearts of drive-time commuters everywhere. But an ambitious project funded partly with federal stimulus dollars is aiming to ease the fear factor on the 405.

It won’t happen overnight. By the time it’s completed in the spring of 2013, however, the project will create a 10-mile northbound carpool lane on the 405 between the Santa Monica (10) and Ventura (101) freeways. It will provide a crucial connecting link in the freeway’s carpool lane system extending north from the Orange County line.

Relief can’t come soon enough for the hundreds of thousands of commuters who travel through the pass each day. They currently experience 15,000 “vehicle-hours” of delay daily; Caltrans estimates that unless something is done, the congestion would hit 27,800 vehicle-hours by 2015 and 59,430 by 2031.

“Most of the commute would be at a complete standstill,” says Mike Barbour, Metro’s project director on the 405 work. “If we don’t do this, it will be horrendous.”

The work extends beyond adding the carpool lane. Workers will also realign 27 on- and off-ramps; widen 13 overpasses and structures; build some 18 miles of retaining and sound walls, and remove and replace bridges at the Skirball Center, Sunset Boulevard and Mulholland Drive. Oh, and they’ll be doing some road improvements on nearby streets, too.

It’s a big job—officials say the project will create 18,000 jobs during construction, although not all of those are local. For now, workers in the pre-construction phase are busy surveying storm drains and utilities, and doing the soil testing that is essential to the design process. Project officials also are working with a community advisory committee made up of homeowners and neighborhood councils to get feedback on the design process, and will continue working with the group though construction. A community meeting will be held Nov. 19 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles.

Signs will be posted to let motorists know when the project is expected to begin and end. Traffic lanes will be reconfigured and a safe work zone set up behind those concrete barriers known as “k-rail.” Once that’s done, officials say, northbound drivers should have the same five lanes available during the project as they did before it started—and will, of course, have a new 6th lane for carpools when it’s done.

“We are doing everything we can to reduce the overall construction time frame,” Barbour says, adding there is an incentive for the contractor to finish early. Barbour urges commuters to check the project website frequently for updates during construction.

The project, a partnership of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), is expected to cost $1.034 billion, with $189.9 million coming from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and the rest from state and other federal sources.

Updated, 11/10/09:
Just in time for the holiday rush at LAX, Caltrans has opened the new carpool lane on the southbound 405 from the Santa Monica Freeway to the Marina Freeway (SR-90.) The northbound carpool lane covering the same stretch is set to open before Thanksgiving.

“It’s going to definitely alleviate the flow of traffic, especially during the holidays,” when carloads of travelers picking up or dropping off passengers can take advantage of a high-occupancy lane, says Sgt. Jim Holcomb of the LAX Airport Police.

The five-year, $167 million project—which also included work on National, Culver and Palms boulevards—makes it possible to travel via carpool lane on the southbound San Diego Freeway from the San Fernando Valley through Orange County.

Updated 12/29/09:
Night work on the 405 carpool lane project begins Jan. 12, with closures of ramps, individual lanes and the entire northbound freeway planned for various times through mid-March. The work—to lay out temporary lanes and set up protective work barriers—will take place from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. on weekdays, with full closures slated only between midnight and 5 a.m. As the project moves forward, look for updated information on lane and ramp closures here.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky hailed voter passage of County Measure R, an ambitious 30-year investment program aimed at relieving traffic congestion, repairing roads and highways, and extending the County’s subway and light-rail transit lines throughout the region. The current tally Countywide stands at 67.3% – 32.7%, but Third District voters approved the measure 72.9% – 27.1%, with support especially high in areas where traffic congestion is most acute. Here’s how Third District communities voted:

• Agoura: 63.6% – 34.6%
• Agoura Hills: 60.4% – 39.6%
• Beverly Hills: 74.7% – 25.2%
• Calabasas: 64.2% – 35.8%
• Hidden Hills: 60.6% – 39.4%
• Los Angeles: 72% – 28%
• Malibu: 69.2% – 30.8%
• Malibu Heights: 68.6% – 31.4%
• San Fernando: 70.9% – 29.1%
• Santa Monica: 77.3% – 22.7%
• Topanga: 73.7% – 26.3%
• West Hills (uninc.): 62% – 38%
• West Hollywood: 83.6% – 16.4%
• Westlake Village: 59.9% – 40.1%

For full details on how Measure R will work, the projects it funds and the communities it serves, visit Metro and Measure R.