http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20131107/405-freeway-ramp-jam-disruptions-come-to-a-close-today
November 7, 2013
LOS ANGELES - “Ramp Jam” will come to an end today in West Los
Angeles when the final ramp from Wilshire Boulevard to the San Diego
(405) Freeway is opened, culminating a months-long construction effort
aimed at reducing congestion at the popular interchange.
Construction
crews are expected to remove barricades on the ramp from eastbound
Wilshire to the northbound freeway at about 6 a.m.
The new ramp
is wider and three times longer than the original, and acts as a
“flyover” that will carry motorists above the northbound freeway offramp
to westbound Wilshire, according to Metro, which is overseeing the 405
Freeway construction project in the Sepulveda Pass.
The new configuration does away with the traffic-slowing weave of
motorists trying to exit or enter the freeway using a single lane. The
wider, 3,129-foot-long ramp is also expected to accommodate almost twice
as many vehicles trying to enter the northbound freeway.
Construction
at the interchange forced the closure of the Wilshire interchange ramps
beginning in late July, prompting warnings from area transportation
officials to avoid the area -- dubbing the closures “Ramp Jam.”
The
ramp work was part of the three-year, $1 billion widening and
reconstruction of 10 miles of the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass.
Purpose
