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Lanes Open on Sluggish 405 Construction

With no fanfare, last week Caltrans opened lanes and onramps that had been off-limits during the 405 Freeway’s lengthy construction through Culver City (.pdf).
Barriers were removed on the Culver Boulevard onramp and on new right-hand lanes, all part of the expansion to make way for High Occupancy Vehicle (you know, car-pool) lanes in the center of the freeway. At one point, construction, which started way back in 2005, was estimated to cost $950 million.
Frustrated drivers have been enviously eyeing the closed-off lanes for months. But their frustration may persist: The project does not alleviate the bottleneck of lanes merging where the 405 meets the 90 Freeway (once quickly known as The Richard M. Nixon Freeway).
This post is by Jack Skelley
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