Set for completion in 2022, improvements will reduce travel times by adding one regular lane in each direction, along with express toll lanes
ORANGE – The Orange County Transportation Authority is seeking proposals from a shortlist of firms for the design and construction of the I-405 Improvement Project, an important step toward building a better freeway that will improve travel times for everybody driving the corridor between Costa Mesa and the Los Angeles County line.
The OCTA Board of Directors at its Monday meeting unanimously approved the criteria for selecting a firm to design and build the freeway improvements, and it approved issuing the final request for proposals.
The $1.7 billion project will improve commute times on the San Diego Freeway (I-405) from the SR-73 to the I-605, an area traveled by more than 370,000 vehicles a day, making it the busiest stretch of highway in the nation.
The project, set to begin construction in 2017, includes adding one regular general-purpose lane in each direction – as promised in Measure M – and building express toll lanes.
The design-build firms shortlisted because of their qualifications for the project are:
- OC 405 Partners
- Shimmick-Tutor Perini
- Skanska-Flatiron
Once submitted by the firms, OCTA staff will evaluate the proposals to determine which one offers the best value to OCTA in terms of price and technical merit. The OCTA board is scheduled to approve the selection of the design-build team in November.
The Measure M project, being constructed in cooperation with Caltrans, will be funded by a combination of local, state and federal funds, with the toll lane portion of the project financed and paid for by those who choose to pay a toll and use the 405 Express Lanes.
The design-build model for delivering the project will save time and money.
The 405 Express Lanes are intended to benefit all people who use the I-405. In 2040, it’s expected to take 29 minutes to travel during rush hour from SR-73 to I-605 in the general-purpose lanes. That commute can be reduced to 13 minutes if a driver chooses to take the Express Lanes. If the project only constructed the general-purpose lanes in each direction and not the Express Lanes, the commute in the general-purpose lanes or regular high-occupancy-vehicle lanes would take almost an hour to travel the same stretch.
The project is expected to be completed in 2022. For more information, visit www.octa.net/405improvement.
