Politics & Government

Wilshire 'Ramp Jam' Ends in West L.A.

Construction crews remove barricades on the ramp from eastbound Wilshire Boulevard to the northbound freeway.

"Ramp Jam" came to an end Thursday in West Los Angeles when the final ramp from Wilshire Boulevard to the San Diego (405) Freeway was opened, culminating a months-long construction effort aimed at reducing congestion at the popular interchange.

Construction crews removed barricades on the ramp from eastbound Wilshire to the northbound freeway at about 6 a.m.

"I want to thank our Westside residents, businesses and commuters for their incredible patience throughout this project," county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. "Today, their perseverance has been rewarded with a set of freeway ramps that are far safer and more efficient, just one of the many improvements they will be able to enjoy when our 405 project is completed in less than a year."

Find out what's happening in Beverly Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The new ramp is wider and almost three times longer than the original, and acts as a "flyover" that will carry motorists above the northbound freeway offramp to westbound Wilshire, according to Metro, which is overseeing the 405 Freeway construction project in the Sepulveda Pass.

The new configuration does away with the traffic-slowing weave of motorists trying to exit or enter the freeway using a single lane. The wider, 3,129-foot-long ramp is also expected to accommodate almost twice as many vehicles trying to enter the northbound freeway.

Find out what's happening in Beverly Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

All of the other ramps at the interchange were also lengthened as part of the construction project, allowing them to accommodate more vehicles.

Construction at the interchange forced the closure of the Wilshire interchange ramps beginning in late July, prompting warnings from area transportation officials to avoid the area -- dubbing the closures "Ramp Jam."

The ramp work was part of the three-year, $1 billion widening and reconstruction of 10 miles of the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass.

- City News Service contributed to this report.


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