Demolition of Bushard Street bridge over 405 Freeway to begin this weekend

The Bushard Street bridge over the 405 Freeway in Fountain Valley will be demolished starting this weekend, resulting in a full freeway closure in the area overnight Saturday.

The bridge was closed recently in preparation for the project, during which it will be rebuilt over the next year as part of a larger plan to widen the freeway. The new bridge will still have four lanes, along with sidewalks and bike lanes in each direction.

This weekend’s work will close the 405 in both directions between Brookhurst Street and Warner Avenue from 11 p.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday, according to the Orange County Transportation Authority. Detours will be in effect.

That scenario will be repeated the weekend of Sept. 28-29.

Additional demolition-related activities will occur at other times, with some freeway lane closures, OCTA said.

Elsewhere in Fountain Valley, demolition of the Talbert Avenue bridge over the 405, which began last weekend, is scheduled to be completed between 11 p.m. Sept. 21 and 9 a.m. Sept. 22, with a full freeway closure. That bridge will be rebuilt and widened from four lanes to six, with bike lanes and sidewalks in both directions.

The rebuilt Slater Avenue bridge reopened to traffic two weeks ago after a nearly year-long closure. The new, wider bridge has larger sidewalks and bicycle paths on both sides.

The bridges are among 18 that will be built, replaced or reconfigured as part of an ongoing $1.9-billion project to widen 16 miles of the 405 between the 73 Freeway in Costa Mesa and the 605 Freeway near the Los Angeles County line.

Once the project is complete in early 2023, both directions of the freeway in that stretch will have an additional general-purpose lane and a new “express” toll lane. The existing carpool lane in both directions will be converted to an express lane.

For more information about the project, visit octa.net/405improvement.

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