Making the 405 Freeway Double-Decker Remains an Option to Improve Traffic in the Sepulveda Pass

What is your dream vision for making traffic better through the Sepulveda Pass on the 405 Freeway? One leading concept is to "double deck" the freeway, as in build another freeway on top of the current one. That idea, along with whatever other ones people can come up with, will be aired at an upcoming meeting held by the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Adding a second level of lanes to the heavily-traveled 405 Freeway is not a new idea, mind you. In 2010, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed that as his solution to the ongoing congestion woes on the busy freeway. It was a controversial idea then, and remains one now.

Kymberleigh Richards with the Metro San Fernando Valley Service Council told KNX/CBS2: “Double-decking is conceivable, it was done with the 110 (Freeway) Harbor transit way 20 years ago, but at the same time, you worry about what happened in the Loma Prieta earthquake when you talk about double-decking,”

Richards is referring to the 1989 Bay Area earthquake that caused massive damage and left 63 people dead; the quake brought down several "double deck" segments of area freeways, notably on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and Interstate 880 in West Oakland.

But adding a second "deck" to the 405 isn't the only idea being circulated right now. One other idea--and also a controversial one at that--is tunneling through the Santa Monica Mountains. The idea is expected to draw powerful resistance from area residents.

Adds CBS2:

Have a better plan? The public is invited to the meeting, at the Marvin Braude Constituent Service Center at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Van Nuys, to share whatever they can dream up to improve traffic flow through the Sepulveda Pass.