The Damage Undone : Transportation: The final link of quake-damaged Antelope Valley Freeway will open today.

Without fanfare, the final link of the Antelope Valley Freeway damaged in last year’s Northridge earthquake will reopen today, marking the official end of Caltrans quake repairs in the area.

The northbound Sierra Highway off-ramp, a two-lane structure that leads off and then over the freeway, has been retrofitted and declared safe for traffic, according to California Department of Transportation officials. This completes the massive project that included the rebuilding of heavily traveled sections of the Golden State Freeway, as well as sections of the Antelope Valley Freeway.

No ceremony is planned.

“They had the major opening of the [Golden State] and the other big, major structures,” said Roger Moody, Caltrans superintendent for the area. “Compared to that, Sierra Highway is just a little, minor thing, except to the people in Canyon Country.”

Retrofitting the off-ramp involved replacing the old, two-foot-thick columns that had supported the 1,522-foot stretch of concrete over the freeway with columns eight feet thick, Caltrans officials said. On Monday, workers did the final “pretty work” on the ramp, said Caltrans maintenance manager Chuck Webster, mostly involving pulling weeds and clearing trash.

The ramp’s opening brings to an end one of the Los Angeles area’s costliest earthquake-related public-works projects.

The interchange between the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways--a mass of twisted and collapsed overpasses that became one of the most oft-published images from the earthquake--cost more than $19.6 million to repair, not including the $3.5-million bonus paid to the contractor for completing the project early. The interchange opened in July, re-establishing the main highway link between the San Fernando Valley and points north.

Additional repairs and retrofitting of the Antelope Valley Freeway, including the Sierra Highway ramp, cost an additional $5.5 million.

During the major construction, commuters from Santa Clarita, Palmdale and Lancaster were forced to rely on surface streets to get to the San Fernando Valley and Downtown Los Angeles. Traffic tie-ups would often last several hours.

With the opening of the Sierra Highway ramp, Moody will finally feel a sense of closure, he said. He will also be relieved to stop issuing earthquake-repair updates to the public.

“People will quit calling and tying up the phones now,” he said.