Quake-Damaged Freeway Link Reopens : Roads: Motorists celebrate repair of Golden State-Antelope Valley interchange. Segment is named in honor of officer who died when his motorcycle plunged off the overpass.

The Los Angeles region’s recovery from the Northridge earthquake reached another milestone Friday morning as officials reopened key sections of the Golden State-Antelope Valley freeway interchange, naming it in memory of the motorcycle officer who plunged to his death there after the temblor.

Little fanfare accompanied the reopening, unlike the elaborate ceremonies that celebrated the completion of two other major freeway restoration projects this year. But motorists were jubilant as they honked and whooped their way across the interchange at the northeast exit from the San Fernando Valley, the most heavily traveled artery connecting Los Angeles and the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.

“This justifies it,” project superintendent John Britt said of the around-the-clock work that went into completing construction three weeks ahead of schedule. “I wanted to see this--and now I want to go get some sleep.”

Led by the California Highway Patrol, a stream of cars and trucks--the tail end of rush-hour traffic headed toward Downtown Los Angeles--switched smoothly from the southbound Antelope Valley Freeway to the southbound Golden State Freeway shortly before 9:30 a.m.

Workers also opened the connector road between the northbound segments of the two freeways. But with most motorists still conditioned to veer onto a truck bypass before the interchange, only a handful of cars came through.

One belonged to Debbie Castner of Westchester, who said she took the interchange by mistake because she got lost on her way to Magic Mountain.

“Oh really? Hot dog!” Castner, 38, exclaimed when told she was among the first to use the newly paved route, which spans three lanes on either side.

The remaining transitions between the southbound Antelope Valley Freeway and the northbound Golden State, and from the southbound Golden State onto the northbound Antelope Valley, are to be completed later this year.

The entire interchange has been renamed in honor of Clarence Wayne Dean, the Los Angeles motorcycle police officer who unwittingly rode off the end of the collapsed overpass into midair in the pre-dawn darkness immediately after the Jan. 17 quake. State lawmakers approved the name change, at the request of his fellow officers, this week.

“He would’ve liked that,” said Deborah Barton of Lancaster, Dean’s oldest sister.

Barton, 45, fought back tears Friday morning as cars whizzed by the spot where her brother was killed. “The whole thing’s been hard. It was a terrible loss.”

A group of nine officers who worked with Dean pulled up at 10 a.m., believing there would be a dedication ceremony, but officials said a formal commemoration would take place later.

The $19.6-million reconstruction project, paid for by federal disaster relief funds, came with a $100,000-a-day bonus for early completion. Finishing ahead of the July 28 target date will net the contractor, Kasler Corp. of San Bernardino, an additional $3.5 million.

Bonuses were also awarded for the ahead-of-schedule repair of the Santa Monica Freeway in April and the Golden State Freeway over Gavin Canyon in May.

Although state and federal officials scrambled to attend those reopenings and claim political credit for bringing them about, Friday’s event was low-key, attracting only a few reporters and workers who watched as the barriers were removed.

“When we opened the I-5, the community really wanted to do something and the governor agreed. (But this time) the governor really just wants to see us get this work complete. We’re anxious to turn it back over to motorists,” Caltrans spokeswoman Margie Tiritilli said.

“We don’t need a ceremony,” said Kurt Thomas, a structural engineer for Kasler.

Thomas said work on the bridges was especially hazardous because of their height. The tallest column stands 126 feet, the shortest 61 feet. By contrast, the Gavin Canyon overpasses were 80 feet high, the Santa Monica Freeway about 20 feet.

About 250 workers toiled 24 hours a day, often high above the Metrolink commuter rail tracks. The canyon terrain also made access difficult for supply trucks, project manager John Cluff said.

Many commuters from northern Los Angeles County flocked to the Metrolink trains after the temblor, swelling ridership on the Santa Clarita line from about 1,000 a day to 22,000. The standing-room-only crowds have since thinned considerably, to about 4,000 a day in June.

Metrolink officials acknowledge that the Antelope Valley interchange presents greater competition than did the reopening of the Golden State Freeway over Gavin Canyon. For many passengers who have been riding the Santa Clarita line, the newly restored interchange is the most convenient link to the south, and is expected to siphon off about 7% of their passengers, Metrolink estimates.

Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Jan Heidt, an alternate member of the Metrolink board of directors, expressed confidence that riders would stick with the trains, but said the appeal of freeways was tough to counter.

Times special correspondent Douglas Alger contributed to this story.