Costa Mesa : Freeway Work to Shut Section of Harbor Blvd.

A section of Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa will be closed Thursday and Friday, and the California Department of Transportation is asking motorists to take alternate routes.

The southbound lanes of Harbor, from Baker Street to Sunflower Avenue, will be closed from 4 a.m. Thursday until 4 a.m. Friday, Caltrans spokesman Albert Miranda said Tuesday.

Harbor is being closed so car pool lanes can be added along the San Diego Freeway overcrossing, Miranda said. Although Harbor will be closed, Harbor exits off the San Diego Freeway will remain open.

On Tuesday, traffic was congested on this portion of Harbor Boulevard because the northbound lanes were closed for 24 hours, ending at 4 a.m. this morning.

By closing Harbor Boulevard for two days, Miranda said, Caltrans expects to reduce the time needed to build a wider San Diego Freeway bridge over Harbor Boulevard from 50 to 30 days.

This San Diego Freeway widening project will also require that crews use heavy pile drivers throughout the night for the next month at the San Diego Freeway bridge over the Santa Ana Freeway, Miranda said.

The pile driving, which Miranda said began Monday, will be occur from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Noise from the pile drivers will be heard by people living a mile around the site, Miranda said. But he added that this nighttime work was necessary to avoid daytime closing of freeway lanes that would snarl traffic for miles.