Harbor Freeway Stretch to Open in Spring With Double-Deck Lanes : Changes along 10 miles of roadway are designed to reduce congestion while encouraging motorists to carpool.

Commuters on the clogged Harbor Freeway may get some relief when new carpool lanes, park-and-ride lots and transit stations open along a 10-mile stretch of the thoroughfare beginning this spring.

At work since 1989, Caltrans is near completion of the $530-million Harbor Freeway-Transitway project to help alleviate congestion on the freeway. “It definitely gives some people incentive to either get out of their cars altogether or carpool,” Caltrans spokesman Rick Holland said.

An average of 240,000 vehicles traverse the Harbor Freeway each day, according to Holland. When the project is completed, Caltrans hopes that number will decrease as more people travel together.

New high-occupancy lanes--for buses and carpools with two or more passengers--are being added in the center of the highway from Artesia Boulevard to the Santa Monica Freeway. And new park-and-ride lots and transit stations will be opened at most major intersections along the freeway.

In order to keep traffic flowing, much of the construction has been done during off-peak hours. For instance, when Caltrans had to reconstruct some ramps and portions of city streets, the ramps were closed to traffic only between midnight and 5 a.m.

For the first time in Los Angeles County, Caltrans elevated some sections of the carpool lanes in order to save surrounding businesses and homes and avoid taking away existing lanes. A 2.6-mile stretch of freeway from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Slauson Avenue and from Jefferson Boulevard to 23rd Street is built about 50 feet above the freeway. The remaining 7.7 miles are at street level.

“Where we couldn’t widen, we went up,” Holland said.

The elevated portion is supported by 49 columns. Each column is constructed on top of a steel shaft that extends up to 93 feet below the ground. “We’ve used the latest seismic technology, so you don’t have to worry about the freeway collapsing,” Holland said.

In addition to carpool lanes, there will be nine park-and-ride lots and transit stations at major intersections along the freeway. Each lot will provide access to Metropolitan Transportation Authority buses or the Metro Green Line train. To serve the lots, the MTA will create bus routes or add stops to existing routes.

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The first of the freeway’s park-and-ride lots opened Dec. 5 on North Beacon Street in San Pedro. Travelers can use the 280-space lot to meet carpools or catch an MTA express bus into downtown Los Angeles. Additional lots, which are expected to open by the end of this year, are at the following Harbor Freeway intersections: Pacific Coast Highway (California 1); San Diego Freeway (I-405); Artesia Boulevard (California 91); Rosecrans Avenue (I-105); Manchester Avenue (California 42); Slauson Avenue, and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The largest--at Artesia Boulevard--will have more than 1,000 parking spaces.

Also, the Metro Green Line station at the intersection of I-105 and I-110 will be accessible from new stops along the median of the Harbor Freeway. Bus routes for MTA express lines 444, 445, 446 and 447, which run from downtown Los Angeles to Palos Verdes and San Pedro, will be altered to serve the station.