Weaving the Freeway Fabric

Wood and steel forms, silhouetted against the sky, blend together in a sort of construction fabric that has its own picturesque qualities. After cement is poured and hardened, the forms are removed to reveal the smoother, more graceful concrete masses that are the elevated portions of the Century Freeway taking shape across the cities of the Southeast. Norwalk sits at the eastern end of the new cross-town traffic route that in a few years will link it with El Segundo and Los Angeles International Airport. En route, the Century Freeway will cross portions of Downey, Paramount, Lynwood, Willowbrook, Los Angeles and Hawthorne. It will intersect the Long Beach (710), Harbor (110) and San Diego (405) freeways before emptying traffic onto connector surface streets on the south side of the airport where it borders El Segundo. At its eastern end, the Century Freeway will connect with the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway and park-and-ride lots being built in Norwalk. The 17.3-mile project costing about $2 billion is planned for completion in September, 1993, more than 11 years after construction began. It will have six lanes for general traffic and two car-pool lanes, plus 10 transit stations, ramp meters, sound walls and landscaping.