Tag Archives: 5 freeway

Public hearing next week on proposal to build HOT lanes on I-5 in Santa Clarita area

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I-5 HOT lanes meeting notice

The meeting notice is above; the meeting is from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. this Thursday, March 28, at Santa Clarita City Hall in the Council chambers.

The project proposes to accelerate the construction of 13.5 miles of HOV lanes by making them HOT lanes — i.e. lanes in which vehicles with one or two occupants would pay a toll (the toll would apply to two-occupant vehicles only at peak hours). Here’s a post with many more details about the project.

The hearing is required because the project’s environmental study, completed in 2009, must be amended to include the newly-proposed HOT lanes.

Groundbreaking held for another project to widen I-5 freeway between 605 and Orange County border

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Public officials at the groundbreaking this morning including Metro Board Members Diane DuBois and Don Knabe in the center of the frame. Photo by Luis Inzunza/Metro.

Public officials at the groundbreaking this morning including Metro Board Members Diane DuBois and Don Knabe in the center of the frame. Photo by Luis Inzunza/Metro.

The project that broke ground this morning will widen the 5 freeway for 1.2 miles between Shoemaker and Silverbow avenues by adding a general purpose lane and HOV lane in both directions. The project will also widen three bridges over the freeway — at Shoemaker, Rosecrans and Bloomfield. Metro is contributing $42 million of the $214 million cost of the project, with Metro’s money coming from Prop C (1990) and Measure R (2008) sales tax increases approved by county voters.

This is one of six projects that will add a general purpose lane and a carpool lane to the 5 freeway for seven miles in both directions from the 605 freeway junction to the border between L.A. and Orange counties. That border is a well-known bottleneck — Orange County has widened the 5 and added a carpool lane whereas the 5 remains three or four lanes north of the county line. The completion date for all of the projects is 2016.

Below is the program from today’s ceremony and a project map. The news release from Caltrans is posted after the jump.

groundbreaking program I5

Click above to see larger image.

Click above to see larger image.

Click above to see larger image.

And here’s a project map:

SouthProjects_Rosecrans-OverviewDetails1203

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Official ribbon cutting held for HOV direct connector between 5 and 14 freeways

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Officials cut the ribbon on the new HOV connector this morning. Rep. Tony Cardenas is holding the scissors. Photos by Luiz Inzunza/Metro.

Officials cut the ribbon on the new HOV connector this morning. Rep. Tony Cardenas is holding the scissors. Photos by Luiz Inzunza/Metro.

The blue pin shows the new connector that allows motorists to travel between the HOV lanes on the 5 and 14 freeways. Photo: Google Maps.

The blue pin shows the new connector that allows motorists to travel between the HOV lanes on the 5 and 14 freeways. Photo: Google Maps.

The long-awaited connector allows motorists in the HOV lanes on the 5 and 14 freeways to remain in the HOV lanes while traveling between the two freeways. It opened in late December and a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Friday morning to celebrate the project, which began in 2008 and cost $175.8 million.

“A major investment in North County benefitting Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys, the I-5/SR-14 direct HOV connector will improve safety, traffic flow and air quality at this major bottleneck in our regional freeway system,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, Chairman of the Metro Board of Directors.  “We need more direct HOV connectors from the 5 to the 405 and 134 to link the North County HOV system to the rest of Southern California–as far away as San Juan Capistrano and San Bernardino–in the next 5 years.”

Glendale Councilman and Metro Board Member Ara Najarian speaks at this morning's event.

Glendale Councilman and Metro Board Member Ara Najarian speaks at this morning’s event.

Four years later: the status of major Measure R highway and road projects

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Work earlier this year on the 5-14 HOV lane connector project that is receiving Measure R funding. Photo: Caltrans District 7.

I posted an update last week on the transit projects funded by Measure R. Some of the major road projects get their turn today.

The following list just looks at some of the major road projects that are benefiting from Measure R dollars. Many other smaller projects around Los Angeles County ranging from median improvements to repaving have been completed or are underway.

And that doesn’t count the dozens of smaller road projects that will be paid for by the 15 percent of Measure R revenues returned to local cities for use on transportation-related projects and expenses.

I-5 HOV: The project to construct one carpool/HOV lane in both directions between the 134 and 170 freeways is under construction.

I-5/SR-14 HOV Direct Connector: The project is under construction and is building ramps that will allow carpoolers to travel between the 5 and 14 freeways without leaving the HOV lane.

I-5 Carmenita Road Interchange Project: The widening of the 5 freeway on either side of the Carmenita Road overpass is under construction.

I-5 North County Capacity Enhancements: Truck lanes between the 14 freeway and Pico Canyon are under construction. Other improvements, including more truck lanes and freeway improvements, are in the study and planning phases.

South Bay Operational Improvements: The project will help fund a number of on- and off-ramp improvements (such as widenings, auxiliary lanes and metering) primarily in Carson, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Redondo Beach and Torrance, as well as parts of the city and county of Los Angeles. Some improvements are under construction; many others will be built between 2013 and 2015.

I-5 Widening I-605 to Orange County Line: The project will add one general and one HOV lane in both directions for 6.4 miles. The project is in its final design phase and will be built in six segments. The Alondra segment is under construction and construction contracts were just awarded for segments three and four.

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I-5 South Corridor braces for second wave of congestion-busting improvements

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Officials break ground March 19 to launch the I-5 HOV Widening and Alondra Boulevard Bridge Project, the second of six segments of the I-5 South Corrdior Improvement Projects.

Officials break ground March 19 to launch the I-5 HOV Widening and Alondra Boulevard Bridge Project, the second of six segments of the I-5 South Corrdior Improvement Projects.

Caltrans and Metro announced Monday that construction will begin on the I-5 Widening and Alondra Boulevard Bridge Project, the second segment of the I-5 South Corridor Improvement Project that runs from the Los Angeles/Orange County Line to the I-605. Last fall, Caltrans began the first of six I-5 corridor improvement projects totaling more than $1 billion; some of the funding is coming from Measure R.

The $110-million Alondra Boulevard Bridge project will add one carpool lane and one general purpose lane in each direction from North Fork Coyote Creek to Marquardt Avenue, a distance of nearly a mile. The project also includes reconstructing two bridges at Alondra and North Fork Coyote Creek to accommodate a wider freeway, redesigned ramp structures and realigning Firestone Boulevard and Freeway Drive frontage roads.

The Alondra Boulevard Bridge Project is expected to be completed by mid-2015.

The Alondra Boulevard Bridge spans the 1-5 South Corridor in Santa Fe Springs. An estimated 220,000 vehicles travel this section daily.

The Alondra Boulevard Bridge spans the 1-5 South Corridor in Santa Fe Springs. An estimated 220,000 vehicles travel this section daily.

The art of transit

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photo by johnsnape, via Flickr  

I know what you’re thinking: this photo was taken during Carmageddon in July. Nope — look a little closer. This is San Diego County — see the exit to the 8 freeway. How did the photographer get the shot? He kept the shutter open for five seconds with an aperture of f/16 and an ISO of 100. The long exposure made the cars disappear — a neat trick. I know another way to help accomplish this is to use a darkened filter to allow for longer exposures needed to make the moving objects in the frame vanish. Fun. This photo was taken with a Canon EOS REBEL T2i.

To submit a photo for the Art of Transit, post it to Metro’s Flickr group, email it to sourcemetro@gmail.com or Tweet it to @metrolosangeles with an #artoftransit hashtag. Many of the photos we’ve featured can be seen in these galleries on Flickr.

Groundbreaking held for HOV lane on 5 freeway between the 170 and 118

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The most recent map of HOV projects in Los Angeles County. Click above for a larger image.

Nothing like triple digit temperatures to bust some sod, but that’s exactly what public officials did this morning in the San Fernando Valley on a project that will add 3.4 miles of HOV lane to both directions of the Golden State Freeway between the 170 and 118 freeways.

The $140.2-million project will also widen four under-crossings for the 5 freeway, perform some pavement repair and construct HOV-to-HOV exits and entrances between the HOV lanes on the 5 and 170.

Among the funding sources are Metro, the state of California and the federal government’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Officials who braved the heat included Metro Director and L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, State Senator Alex Padilla, Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, Caltrans Deputy District Director Roy Fisher and Metro CEO Art Leahy.

Transportation headlines, Tuesday, Aug. 31

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Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the library’s blog.

More cars eligible for carpool lanes (L.A. Times)

A new law by Sen. Leland Yee and backed by General Motors would allow more environmentally-friendly cars into carpool lanes, regardless of how many people are in the vehicles. GM is expected to soon release the Chevy Volt, which will be able to run short distances on only an electric motor.

Actively managing the 5 freeway — in Seattle (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

A new series of signs along the 5 freeway in the Seattle area is trying to provide motorists with real-time conditions of what’s going on ahead of them on the roadway. Here’s a video from the state of Washington that explains the signs with some pretty nifty animation.

Measuring traffic is one thing… (Wall Street Journal)

It’s not so hard to figure out traffic is a mess. But using math and technology to do something about it — and better spread out traffic so that it doesn’t overwhelm roadway capacity — has proven to be a real bear.

Today’s musical interlude comes from the Kinks, with one of their most under-rated songs, “Do It Again.” It’s not about transit, but it’s set in a tube station in London, so that’s good enough for me.

iPod pedestrian zombies causing havoc on British roadways (British Automobile Assn.)

This press release burped out earlier this month and it’s worth a read. The BAA says 17 collisions each day involving vehicles might be caused by pedestrians falling into a trance-like state courtesy of their electronic gadgets. The release dryly notes the example of a car swerving to avoid a pedestrian in the road, with the vehicle ending up “in a chemist’s shop.” Also noted is this poster from Australian authorities trying to illustrate the dangers of the iPod.