Alternative access to northbound 405 during Ramp Jam

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Click above to see a larger version of the map.

The demolition and reconstruction of the northbound entrance to the 405 freeway from westbound Wilshire Boulevard and the northbound exit from the 405 to westbound Wilshire begins tonight. My sympathies to those who will be sitting in excess traffic.

The above is a map showing alternative access to the 405 freeway. There will obviously be traffic issues in the area — there’s no way to close a Wilshire-405 ramp without causing traffic.

Here are a few other resources that may be helpful:

•Carpool and ridesharing info for those who want to help reduce the number of cars in the area — or at least share the misery with someone else.

•Here’s a link with more information for area employers who want to arrange transit for workers.

•Here is a six-page fact sheet on the Wilshire ramp reconstruction that helps explain why the ramps are being rebuilt and how everyone should benefit.

•And here is yesterday’s post with a video explaining the project as well as the construction notice about the work beginning this weekend.

Categories: Projects, Service Alerts

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8 replies ›

  1. I thought I would give this website the email reply I got from METRO to some of my questions above. Deatils on the Santa Monica ramps have not yet been posted as Metro does not have dates for completion. Work on the Santa Monica ramps was delayed due to work on nearby sound walls that had to be demolished and rebuilt 10 feet to the west (south bound onramp) and 10-15 feet to the east (north bound) in order to standardize lanes on the 405 and to add the HOV lane. The layout of the ramps is not changing as dramatically as the Wilshire ramps — thus no rendering or fact sheet for the Santa Monica ramps was created.

  2. I am puzzled by a number of things, 1) I have looked all over the metro.net site and have seen nothing regarding the construction and closures of the on and off-ramps between Santa Monica BLVD and the 405 (similar to what is now availabe for the Wilshire closure). This area was once “finished” complete with 3 lanes of access to the 405 in both North and South directions but then was completely torn down again and reduced to one lane each direction! 2) The traffic in this area has been horrendous for at 3 or 4 years and thus, I would have thought they would have finished the Santa Monica Blvd ramps BEFORE closing the Wilshire ramps. 3) Now that the wilshire ramps are closed AND the Santa Monica ramps are still narrowed to one lane and “under construction” the back-ups will be even more horrendous. 4) Is there any time table for the completion of the Santa Monica blvd ramps and/or any schematic or drawing depicting how this area will look when completed? 5) Will answers to any of the above posts to this website ever be posted? Thanks for your time.

  3. Please do not close consecutive off ramps to give people alternatives to Wilshire that are viable….and please give ale notice when on the freeway on off ramp closures allowing people to choose alternate routes with ample time. We all have to make this situation livable. Thanks!

  4. I have a few suggestions:

    1. Can we sign up to have emails sent each day (e.g. by lunchtime) so when we drive home we will know exactly what routes are closed. The person above mentioned the Beverly Glen closure. It would help if we find out that Beverly Glen is closed before either getting to Beverly Glen or going half way up the canyon. This will alert us to take an entirely different route and will help prevent massive gridlock from occuring.

    2. When you close down canyons or onramps, please have a police officer directing traffic and clear signs showing everyone where to go, otherwise you create a huge panic with everyone gridlocked, honking at each other and completely stressed. Remember, there are thousands of people who don’t know all the backroads and shortcuts, plus those different routes often end up being closed as well. Roadrage then sets in.

    I found this out the hard way when trying to take Sunset west to Sepulveda only to find that little ramp was closed and not knowing where to go to get onto the 405 freeway (this ramp should also be a street light or a cop controlled intersection as imagine the miles long backup on Sunset trying to merge onto sepulveda.

    3. Put a cop near the detours to prevent people from sneaking in at the last minute onto a detour while the rest of us keep getting backed up because of those who drive past us while we patiently wait and then cut us off.

  5. So I am trying to leave Santa Monica last night for a return to the Valley and I know the Wilshire Northbound ramps are closed. So I think the reasonable thing to do is jump on Sunset and take the Sunset Northbound ramp to the 405. Well I get close to the Sunset bridge and the traffic stops and the signs say 405 Northbound ramp (from Sunset) is closed, use Moraga. No problem, I figure, I’ll make the left off of Sunset at the Round hotel, scoot under the 405 and take the Northbound Moraga ramp like the sign says. But no, there is no left turn off of Sunset. So I figure I’ll just head East and take Beverly Glen to Mulholland. As I get to Beverly Glen there is a LADOT traffic officer putting out flares to stop traffic on Sunset before the turn to Beverly Glen North to the Valley. All traffic on Sunset is being sent South on Beverly Glen. Luckily I know a shortcut to go Sunset and back to Beverly Glen so I was able to head East a bit and then hit Beverly Glen North. Oh and since I was headed to the West Valley, I couldn’t cross the Mulholland Bridge and had to take a side street from down to Ventura Blvd. A 20-30 minute drive took me almost and hour and a half. Really MTA?
    You’re closing Wilshire North AND Sunset North ramps at the same time? It’s going to be a LONG year.

  6. This is amusing engineering. The crossing conflict has been moved from between entering/exiting freeway ramps to entering the VA/exiting freeway and exiting VA/entering freeway.

  7. If you really wanted to benefit everyone (i.e., not just automobiles), you should have included a pedestrian/bicycle bridge over these ramps to be built now. I hope Westwood takes legal action for not providing equitable, safe access for all groups.