Community Corner
'Ramp Jam' to Start
Effective next weekend, freeway traffic heading north on the 405 cannot use the westbound ramp to exit to Wilshire Boulevard towards Brentwood or the V.A. Hospital.
A 50-year-old shortcut on the San Diego (405) Freeway is to begin disappearing next weekend, as the $1 billion Sepulveda Pass freeway widening project claims part of the northbound collector ramps at Wilshire Boulevard.
All eight ramps at the interchange will be shut down—two at a time—to rebuild the 1950s-style cloverleaf-style interchange, which sits on bridges above Sepulveda and Wilshire boulevards, Metro officials said.
The project has been dubbed "ramp jam," "rampture" and "octojam.
Find out what's happening in Santa Monicawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Contractors are to permanently seal the ramp next Friday to begin installing a new fly-over structure that will eventually separate exiting and entering traffic, Metro officials said.
Find out what's happening in Santa Monicawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Effective next weekend, freeway traffic heading north on the 405 cannot use the westbound ramp to exit to Wilshire Boulevard towards Brentwood or the V.A. Hospital. Motorists are advised to exit the 405 at Santa Monica Boulevard and use surface streets. And traffic heading west on Wilshire from the UCLA area will not be able to enter the northbound 405 at Wilshire, but will be detoured up Sepulveda to the next on-ramps, near Sunset Boulevard.
Construction on the Wilshire ramps will continue 24 hours per day and 7 days per week until they are complete, metro officials said. The new interchange will mean northbound 405 freeway traffic will not be able to "sneak through" the Wilshire collector ramps to bypass stopped cars on the freeway mainline lanes.
Stay connected with Santa Monica Patch throughout the day on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to our free daily newsletter for email updates.
