Relieved transportation officials proclaim ‘Jamzilla’ a success
RIP, “Jamzilla.”
With many Angelenos taking a holiday from traffic, the Presidents Day weekend closure of the northbound 405 Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass proved a success, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Tuesday.
Working day and night, construction crews accomplished the task of paving what will be a new carpool lane and restriping the Westside section of road.
At 5:10 a.m. Tuesday, about an hour ahead of schedule, transportation officials reopened all five regular lanes between Getty Center Drive and Ventura Boulevard, and several California Highway Patrol squad cars led drivers onto the freeway.
“There was a little bit of a backup [Monday] afternoon, but otherwise it went very well,” said Metro spokesman Marc Littman.
Metro is managing the $1.1-billion project to add a 10-mile northbound carpool lane between the 10 and 101 freeways.
Littman thanked the public for heeding, for the most part, the message to steer clear of the 405 Freeway and Sepulveda Boulevard. It appeared that the motoring public stayed close to home over the long holiday weekend or diverted to other freeways.
“This proves Angelenos can come together for a cause, just like Carmageddon I and II,” Littman said, referring to the full-weekend closures of both directions of the 405 in 2011 and 2012 that allowed workers to tear down the Mulholland Highway bridge.
Metro officials expect that the carpool lane will be open by summer, a bit more than a year past the original schedule. In addition to widening the freeway, workers have made improvements to the Wilshire and Sunset boulevard ramps, upgraded utilities under Sepulveda Boulevard and built wider, sturdier bridges.
“We’re in the home stretch now,” Littman said. Invoking a mantra that Metro adopted long ago, he added: “Angelenos’ short-term pain will be of considerable long-term gain. It will be easier to get on and off the freeway and safer too. We’re standardizing widths of lanes northbound and southbound through the pass and adding shoulder space.
“It’ll be a smoother ride with more capacity,” he said, adding: “But we know people just want it to be done.”
Twitter: @MarthaGroves
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