I-405 "Jamzilla" Closure This Weekend

[andy3175]

I guess this partial closure of I-405 over Presidents Day Weekend 2014 already started, and I just noticed the news about it tonight. It's not a full freeway closure, so I guess it does not reach "Carmaggedon" status:

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/02/15/jamzilla-shutdown-begins-on-405-freeway-through-sepulveda-pass/

"Jamzilla"  has begun. But whether the 80-hour freeway closure becomes a monster worthy of its name remains to be seen. Ramp and lane closures expected to last until early Tuesday began late Friday night on Interstate 405 as the Los Angeles region undergoes another major freeway shutdown with a frightening nickname. Transportation planners have practically begged LA area drivers to stay away from a heavily traveled stretch of Interstate 405 over the Presidents Day weekend. Workers were repaving nearly six miles of northbound lanes over the Sepulveda Pass connecting West LA and the San Fernando Valley as part of a project to add carpool lanes starting early Saturday. Two northbound lanes were set to remain open during the day, but all five lanes will be closed at night. The plan calls for finishing the work about 6 a.m. Tuesday.

http://www.metro.net/projects/I-405/intermittent-80-hr-closure/

Los Angeles transportation officials are alerting I-405 and regional freeway motorists of an 80-hour northbound I-405 Freeway closure operation in the Sepulveda Pass this Presidents' Day weekend, February 14 to 18, 2014, and asking motorists to help prevent multi-hour freeway delays.

The closure consists of a partial daytime lane reduction and a full nighttime closure of the freeway's northbound lanes between Getty Center Dr and Ventura Bl.  Approximately 5.6 miles long, the closure equals two-thirds of the length of the entire I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project.

During daytime hours, two northbound lanes will remain open while three lanes will be closed. During nighttime hours, all five northbound freeway lanes will be closed. While the southbound lanes will remain open during daytime hours of the closure, normal closures may occur during nighttime hours.

Sections of the closure will reopen as they are completed. Updates are available at Twitter and Facebook. Call 511 during the closure weekend and say "Jamzilla"  or visit go511.com for real-time traffic updates.

Sepulveda Bl will remain at full capacity during the closure, although that street does not have the capacity to move all the traffic diverted from the northbound lane closures.

Traffic control officers provided by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation will help guide drivers at each I-405 northbound on-ramp.

Transportation officials ask drivers detouring from the closed I-10 connectors to use freeways rather than local streets.

Regards,
Andy

[emory]

That name makes it sound like a jam band festival, featuring Phish.

[andy3175]

Seems like the work (and traffic) generally progressed well:

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/02/17/final-day-of-construction-for-jamzilla-begins-on-405-freeway/

Motorists heeded warnings to avoid the area and traffic ran smoothly over the weekend.

Metro officials say construction workers are ahead of schedule.

"We finished the paving work that we needed to do by the Getty area by early Sunday morning so that operation was done,"  Metro official Dave Sotero said. "So now we're focusing our attentions on the most complex part of this project by the 101 connectors where we will be paving parts of the 405 by Sepulveda Boulevard."

Regards,
Andy

[sdmichael]

My bf and I drove south over the Sepulveda Pass on Monday and didn't hit any traffic. Northbound was backed up to about Sunset Blvd from the closure. It was quite the scene - the whole median barrier was completely removed near the north Sepulveda Blvd UC. It was certainly good to see them repaving there as the pavement was getting really bad, especially for motorcycles.

[agentsteel53]

I did not see any VMSes advertising this closure. then again, I went up the I-15 corridor from San Diego on my way to Utah and Nevada.

[sdmichael]

The bulk of the signs marking the closure (mind you, it was a lane closure not full freeway closure) were on I-405. I checked Friday through Caltrans QuickMap which shows all the CMS messages throughout the state.