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.

Categories: Projects

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5 replies ›

  1. Road projects have never actually improved air quality — induced demand, more cars, more tailpipe emissions.

    I wish they’d remove that talking point. Be honest: this is all about traffic flow. Fine, this area probably is low-traffic enough that traffic flow is more important than rail service. But claiming it will improve air quality? Bogus.

  4. Great, more ramps to fall down in the next earthquake. Too bad some of that money wasn’t used on the Metrolink tunnel that bailed out all the commuters last time.

  5. Ara Najarian is a great hero and leader in the region he serves. Re- seat him on the Metro Board. Coups d’état are not good form.