ORANGE – Portions of I-405 in Westminster are scheduled to fully close overnight May 31, June 1 and June 8 to allow crews to safely demolish parts of the Westminster Boulevard and Bolsa Avenue bridges as part of the I-405 Improvement Project.
Drivers should expect delays in the area and are encouraged to use alternate routes if possible. The scheduled overnight closures include:
- 10 p.m. Friday, May 31, to 8 a.m. Saturday, June 1
- Northbound I-405 between Westminster Boulevard and Springdale Street
- Southbound carpool lane and two left lanes
- Westminster Boulevard bridge and nearby freeway ramps
- 10 p.m. Saturday, June 1, to 8:30 a.m. Sunday, June 2
- Both directions of I-405 between Westminster Boulevard and Springdale Street
- Westminster Boulevard bridge and nearby freeway ramps
- 11 p.m. Saturday, June 8, to 8 a.m. Sunday, June 9
- Both directions of I-405 between Beach Boulevard and Goldenwest Street
- Bolsa Avenue bridge and nearby freeway ramps
Detours will be in place to guide drivers around the closures. Up-to-date closure and detour information is available on the project’s interactive map at octa.net/405map or on the new project mobile app. To download the free app, search for 405 Improvement in the App Store or Google Play.
The Westminster Boulevard and Bolsa Avenue bridges will be reconstructed in two stages, allowing them to remain open to traffic during construction. Each stage will take approximately 12 months.
Improvements to the Westminster Boulevard bridge include adding sidewalks and bike lanes in both directions. Improvements to the Bolsa Avenue bridge include increasing the total number of lanes to seven from five, and adding sidewalks and bike lanes in both directions.
The $1.9 billion I-405 Improvement Project will add one regular lane in each direction between Euclid Street and I-605, and a second lane in each direction in the center of the freeway from SR-73 to I-605 that will combine with the existing carpool lanes to form the 405 Express Lanes.
More than 18 bridges will be built, widened or replaced as part of the project, which will speed up travel times on I-405 between Costa Mesa and the Los Angeles County line, an area traveled by more than 370,000 vehicles a day.
This 16-mile segment of I-405 is one of the most heavily traveled stretches of highway in the nation, and both the regular lanes and carpool lanes are heavily congested during rush hour and on weekends. The project is critical to accommodate expected employment, population and housing growth throughout the region.
It currently takes drivers about an hour to travel this section of freeway during rush hour, and without the project, the commute is projected to double in the next 20 years. Once the project is finished in 2023, it is expected to take about 30 minutes to drive the 16 miles during rush hour in the regular lanes and about 15 minutes in the 405 Express Lanes.
People are encouraged to visit the project website at www.octa.net/405improvement to sign up for construction alerts via automated call, text message or email.
