Community Corner

Overnight Closures for Northbound 405 Freeway Coming

The Montana Avenue offramp in Westwood is also permanently sealed.

By City News Service

Motorists on the northbound San Diego (405) Freeway lost one offramp and gained another as of Monday, as Caltrans has permanently sealed the Montana Avenue offramp in Westwood.

But the northbound 405's Sunset Boulevard offramp, closed for the past four months, was set to reopen by 6 a.m. today. That is the last temporary ramp closure from the three-year ordeal as 10 miles of the 405 were rebuilt between West Los Angeles and Sherman Oaks.

Find out what's happening in Sherman Oakswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

All is not smooth yet, however: Another set of overnight freeway closures is scheduled for late Monday and Tuesday nights, as work is done on the northbound 405 lanes.

The Montana Avenue exit was scheduled to be blocked off last weekend to allow its demolition and the widening of the 405 without bending adjacent Sepulveda Boulevard toward houses and the Los Angeles National Cemetery.

Find out what's happening in Sherman Oakswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The ramp was a frequent escape route to Sepulveda for motorists heading to the San Fernando Valley. It provided direct access to the surface street.

Drivers can reach the same area by taking the Wilshire Boulevard westbound ramp, one exit earlier, or the Moraga Drive ramp, two exits later. Those who try to take the Sunset Boulevard offramp when it reopens will find it does not directly connect to either Sepulveda or Montana.

The Montana offramp's obituary, as written by the Metro public relations team, notes it was "a Los Angeles resident since 1956" and said it was 550 feet long and weighed 718 tons.

On the freeway, northbound closures will start at midnight tonight and Tuesday night, and last until 5 a.m. the following mornings -- Tuesday and Wednesday. They are aimed to give construction workers safe room to work in the median during roadway widening, according to Metro.

At midnight tonight, northbound lanes will be closed from Santa Monica Boulevard to Wilshire. On Tuesday night, the 405 north will be closed again, this time from Wilshire north past Sunset to Moraga, Metro officials said.

Associated ramp closures will begin as early as early as 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday nights, and freeway lanes will start to disappear at 10 p.m. those nights, according to Metro.

The new seismically updated Sunset Boulevard offramp from the northbound 405 will allow up to 50 vehicles to line up on the ramp to await a green metering signal, twice as many as the old one, officials said.


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