Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Metro officials answer questions in web chat about 405 closure through Sepulveda Pass

LOS ANGELES - As part of a public-outreach campaign to keep motorists away from the Sepulveda Pass during a planned 53-hour closure of the San Diego (405) Freeway, Metro officials turned to the Internet today to field questions from people curious about how they should get around.

During a one-hour live web chat, Metro executive director of highway projects Doug Failing and K.N. Murthy, executive director of transit project delivery, answered questions ranging from how people should get to the airport to why the entire freeway must be closed and why the closure is scheduled on a summer weekend with heavy beach demand.

"We are communicating early so that people who want to go to the beach can plan ahead or go a different weekend," Failing said. "This first closure is during the summer. And although there is a bit more traffic during the summer, these trips are also discretionary and there is flexibility in these trips. We also coordinated with the local schools along the Mulholland corridor and to reduce the congestion it was well-timed to schedule during summer vacation."

The freeway closure is expected to cause traffic nightmares the weekend of July 15-18. Officials have been warning motorists for weeks about the forthcoming closure, which will clear the road for the beginning of demolition work on the Mulholland Drive bridge over the freeway. The demolition is part of a $1 billion freeway improvement project through the Sepulveda Pass.

The northbound 405 Freeway will

be closed for a 10-mile stretch between the Santa Monica (10) Freeway and the Ventura (101) Freeway. The southbound freeway will be closed for four miles between the 101 and Getty Center Drive.

Freeway ramps along the closure area will begin closing around 7 p.m. July 15, with some lanes shut down as early as 10 p.m. to ensure full closure by midnight. The lanes will remain closed until 5 a.m. July 18, with all ramps expected to be reopened by 6 a.m.

During the closure, Sepulveda Boulevard will be designated as an alternate route for area residents only, but the road is expected to be heavily congested nonetheless. Metro, city and county officials have been urging residents to avoid the area altogether.

Failing and Murthy said during the web chat that electronic freeway message boards would not be providing any recommended alternate routes, since those routes would immediately become jammed. They noted, however, that Metro was working with GPS companies such as Tom Tom, Magellan and Garmin to provide real-time traffic information.

"Citizens of this area have adjusted to traffic conditions in LA," Murthy said. "This will be a little different. So, planning ahead, avoiding the impacted area or staying home will be a good option."

Failing compared the closure to the 2009 shut-downs of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco for repair work.

"They prepared in exactly the same way we're doing here -- notifying everyone and using the same techniques we're following," he said. "Somehow everyone coped with the closure. My understanding is that BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) had near-record ridership and the ferries were pretty full. Everyone made the best of it."

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18376817?source=rss

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