Upgrades ease freeway traffic woes in Valley

Officials on Friday christened the end of a decade-long effort to improve the notorious 405-101 Freeway interchange, but they still have a way to go on a far more ambitious widening of the traffic-choked San Diego Freeway.

Earlier this year, Caltrans finally secured nearly $1 billion to widen the 405 Freeway through the Westside and Sepulveda Pass, but the proposal that adds the most lanes has met with strong opposition from residents as well as the Getty Center.

The outcome of the debate on widening the 405 Freeway is seen as a major bellwether for Caltrans, which plans to widen freeways across Southern California, including portions of the 5, 60 and 57 using funds from a infrastructure bond approved by voters last year.

Completing the 10-mile stretch would fill in the missing link in the San Diego Freeway’s carpool lane system, allowing ride-sharing motorists and buses access to a continuous lane on each side from Orange County through the Westside into the San Fernando Valley. The work could also improve flow at the 405-101 interchange, which just received $46 million in improvements.

The most controversial widening option proposed by Caltrans is known as Alternative 3, which would add a northbound carpool lane as well as a regular southbound lane and widen all southbound lanes from 11 to 12 feet.

This would require the state to take 40 residences and a church, largely in the Brentwood Glen neighborhood.

Caltrans is considering widening the southbound lanes after a study found that the southbound 405 through the Sepulveda Pass had a higher rate of accidents than the statewide average.

Many Brentwood Glen residents and the Getty Center officials have mounted a campaign against Alternative 3.

In fact, the Getty Center says the plan threatens the museum’s existence. During the freeway expansion, Caltrans workers would take over the Getty’s southern emergency exit road, which city fire officials require the museum to keep open.

Besides the southern road, the only other road with access to the Getty is the main gate. Smaller roads point toward the Getty, but they are gated and are too narrow and unimproved for firetrucks to use them.

“That south road is an essential element in firefighting,” said Tim Whalen, acting director of operations for the Getty. “It’s not hyperbole. If that road is closed, we don’t have the legal right to operate the Getty Center.”

Construction along the Getty’s hilly eastern edge could also disturb a portion of the $100-million effort the museum has made to stabilize the neighboring steep hills that keep the buildings from sliding, Whalen said.

Brentwood Glen residents have said Alternative 3 would tear apart their tightly knit neighborhood and force the demolition of a 60-year-old church that also serves as a synagogue and neighborhood meeting place.

Some residents have threatened legal action if Caltrans moves forward with the most expansive plan.

But in August, in a possible conciliatory move, Caltrans officials unveiled a modified proposal to the most expansive plan.

The modification would not require the full acquisition of about 30 homes or the church, but would shift the freeway slightly to the east, reduce space for the median and carpool buffer area, and reduce the width of Church Lane, which forms the eastern boundary of Brentwood Glen, and remove street parking on Church Lane.

Some neighbors, as well as the Getty, support Alternative 2, which would only widen lanes on the northbound 405 and add the northbound carpool lane. There would be no additional southbound lane, and no widening of each southbound lane. That plan requires Caltrans to acquire fewer than 10 residential properties and portions of about 40.

Officials gathered at the bottom of the pass Friday to celebrate the completion of the 101-405 Freeway interchange improvements. The interchange has long been listed as one of the nation’s worst freeway interchanges. Every day, up to 600,000 vehicles pass through the interchange, which was built in 1956 and designed to handle 200,000 cars a day.

“The mere mention of the 405 and 101 interchange instills fear in the hearts of L.A. commuters, and for good reason: the 405-101 interchange is the most heavily traveled freeway intersection in the nation and one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in America,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was joined by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at Friday’s dedication. “Angelenos everywhere would reschedule their days and reroute their travel simply to avoid the clutches and the gridlock of the 405-101 interchange.”

Still, the time savings might be modest. Caltrans spokeswoman Judy Gish said rush-hour northbound commuters coming over the Sepulveda Pass can anticipate saving five to eight minutes at the interchange as they continue north on the 405 or east on the 101.

The major problem Caltrans workers resolved over the two-year project was motorists cross-weaving through the roadway at the interchange.

Northbound motorists on the 405 rushed to the right lanes of the road to make a transition onto the 101 Freeway. But at the same time, motorists leaving the Sepulveda Boulevard onramp would have to quickly merge left two lanes to head north on the 405, or risk getting diverted to the 101.

The solution: Build two onramps from Sepulveda Boulevard and a freeway connector that directs motorists to their road of choice.

Major construction was completed in August, and some residents say they have felt relief heading down the steep grade.

“That flow does appear to be better,” said Wayne Williams, who lives in Sherman Oaks. “There’s a lot less constrained traffic as you approach the 101.”

Schwarzenegger used the dedication to highlight new transportation projects being funded by the $19.9-billion Proposition 1B measure voters approved in 2006, even though the interchange project was approved several years earlier.

Proposition 1B money is being used for widening the 405. Caltrans is set to pick which widening alternative it will use later this year.

The agency has about 400 public comments “that we have to go through and respond to, and that’s going to take several weeks,” Gish said.

Assuming legal challenges do not postpone the project, construction could begin as early as 2009 and be completed as early as 2013.

ron.lin@latimes.com