2 Freeway Lanes to Be Shut All Weekend

In an experiment designed to determine how Southern Californians like their traffic backups--in one long, excruciating weekend or in small, painful doses over a longer period--two lanes of the San Bernardino Freeway will be closed this weekend for at least 55 hours.

Two of four lanes along a three-mile stretch of the eastbound freeway--from the Orange Freeway to Garey Avenue in Pomona--will be closed continuously for pavement rehabilitation.

The construction project begins tonight at 10 and will keep the lanes closed until 5 a.m. Monday, the California Department of Transportation said.

Affected will be the two lanes closest to the shoulder of the freeway. The two inside lanes, or those closest to the center strip, will remain open, as will all westbound lanes. The eastbound Dudley Street and Fairplex Drive on- and offramps will be closed during the 55 hours.

Though the closure affects only two lanes, Caltrans is strongly advising motorists to consider alternate routes. Two possibilities are historic Route 66 and the Pasadena Freeway to the north, or the Pomona Freeway to the south.

Traditionally, Caltrans does its road resurfacing work in one seven-hour period at a time, closing sections of freeway from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., then reopening the freeway in time for the morning commute.

But that means only a few hours of actual resurfacing work gets done because the new roadway has to be given four hours to cure before the freeway reopens.

By the time cones and roadblocks are set up, construction crews have only a relatively short time to tear up the surface and lay down a new one.

Thus was born the idea of closing down a section of freeway for an entire weekend. Among other things, Caltrans hopes that the pilot project will determine whether closing freeway lanes for longer stretches will be more popular with motorists. There could also be a financial saving because road crews won’t be repeatedly setting up and tearing down.

“We want to really be able to calculate what the advantages or disadvantages are,” said Doug Failing, a Caltrans division chief in Los Angeles. “If we get enough lane miles down, it gives us options we can talk to communities about.”

Weekend closures one day could be applied to the Golden State, Pomona and Long Beach freeways, said Failing.