Detours planned as construction expected to last up to 12 months
April 11, 2011
ORANGE – Westbound access into Long Beach from the 7th Street bridge will close at 10 p.m. on Monday, April 18 as construction work gets under way on that portion of the West County Connectors project.
The northbound San Diego Freeway (I-405) / westbound Garden Grove Freeway (SR-22) / 7th Street connector will be closed for up to one year while it is reconstructed to accommodate new carpool lanes on the I-405 beneath the bridge.
Four detour routes are available for drivers to minimize the impacts during construction. For detailed detour information, visit: www.octa.net/WCCDetours.
In addition, the Orange County Transportation Authority has worked extensively with Long Beach to reduce impacts to local streets. OCTA provided $1.5 million to the city to reduce impacts from the detours. The funding is being used for signal synchronization on Studebaker Road and Palo Verde, upgrades to the Stearns Street on-ramp to southbound I-405, 2nd Street and Studebaker intersection upgrades and continual monitoring of the detour routes for roadway impacts.
The $277 million West County Connectors project will improve traffic flow by directly connecting carpool lanes on the I-405, San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605) and SR-22.
The project is being built in two segments. The east segment will create direct carpool lane connections between the I-405 and SR-22 at Valley View Street. In addition, the east segment will reconstruct the southbound I-405 to eastbound SR-22 connector and reconstruct the Valley View Street bridge crossing over the SR-22.
The west segment will provide direct carpool lane connections between the I-405 and I-605 and reconstruct the Seal Beach Boulevard and northbound I-405/westbound SR-22/7th Street bridges.
For more information and to sign up for construction alerts, visit www.OCTA.net/westcounty.
