Countywide : Freeway Widening to Cause Detours

Motorists using the Santa Ana Freeway during the next week will have to use detours in the pre-dawn hours.

California Department of Transportation officials said that all southbound lanes of the Santa Ana Freeway between the interchange of the Orange and Garden Grove freeways, known as the “Orange Crush,” and the Costa Mesa Freeway will be closed nightly from 11 tonight through 5 a.m. Friday.

In addition, the southbound Orange Freeway connector to both the southbound Santa Ana Freeway and eastbound Garden Grove Freeway, and the southbound Santa Ana Freeway connector to the eastbound Garden Grove Freeway, will be closed for the same duration.

All lanes on the northbound Santa Ana Freeway will be closed in the stretch between the Costa Mesa Freeway and the Orange Crush from midnight Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday.

All of the closures are the result of bridge work involving the massive Santa Ana Freeway widening project.

Lane closures have occurred periodically during the Santa Ana Freeway widening project, and more are expected.

Caltrans officials have vowed, however, to limit such closures to nighttime hours, except in emergencies.

Closing the Crush A portion of the southbound Santa Ana Freeway will be closed from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. today through Friday because of bridge work. Northbound lanes will be closed from midnight Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday. The Orange Freeway southbound connector to the southbound Santa Ana Freewayand eastbound Garden Grove Freeway will also be temporarily closed. Suggested detours Southbound motorists To eastbound Garden Grove Freeway: Exit at The City Drive to on-ramp for freeway. To southbound Santa Ana Freeway: Exit at The City Drive, take eastbound Garden Grove Freeway to the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway. Northbound motorists To northbound Santa Ana Freeway: Transfer to northbound Costa Mesa Freeway to westbound Garden Grove Freeway to Santa Ana Freeway. Source: Caltrans