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Be Warned: 'Octojam' On The 405 Freeway at Wilshire Begins June 22
Photo by atomicshakespearesvia the LAist Featured Photos pool
Prepare yourselves: starting on June 22 all eight ramps at the 405 intercharge above Wilshire and Sepulveda will be demolished and rebuilt over the course of the next year.
These shut-downs are part of the $1 billion Sepulveda Pass freeway widening project. Metro will be doing construction on these ramps two at a time, and City News Service tells us it's being called "Octojam" (since naming our construction projects is a habit we just haven't been able to kick since Carmageddon).
The first ramps to be shutdown in the cloverleaf-style interchange will be the 405 off-ramp to Westbound Wilshire and the Westbound Wilshire on-ramp to the 405.
When all is said and done, you will no longer be able to take the ramp that parallels the Northbound 405 to move around cars that are (perpetually?) stopped near the Wilshire Boulevard exit. Contractors plan to seal the ramp next Friday and replace it with a fly-over ramp that will separate traffic leaving the freeway from traffic entering the freeway.
What does this mean for you, the annoyed motorist? Starting next weekend, freeway traffic heading north on the 405 won't be able to use the westbound ramp to exit onto Wilshire. Take the Santa Monica Boulevard exit instead. And if you're heading west on Wilshire trying to get on the Northbound 405, you're going to be detoured up Sepulveda Boulevard to the Sunset Boulevard entrance.
This pair of ramps is scheduled to be completely rebuilt in 90 days, while construction crews work (quickly, we hope) around the clock. For more info on the project, check with Metro.
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