The McFadden Avenue bridge over the 405 Freeway in Huntington Beach and Westminster in Orange County, Calif., closed down this week and will be out of service for a year so it can be rebuilt as part of a $1.9 billion freeway widening project.
Demolition of the bridge is expected to begin Aug. 18 and continue for multiple nights. Once rebuilt, the structure will include two lanes in each direction and a sidewalk and a bike lane in each direction, according to Orange County Transportation Authority officials. The current configuration has one lane in each direction and a sidewalk on the north side of the bridge.
This is the first of more than 18 bridges that will be built, widened or replaced for the 405 widening, which Transportation Authority officials say will help improve travel times on the freeway.
The 405 project will affect the 16-mile portion between the 73 Freeway in Costa Mesa and the 605 Freeway near Rossmoor. When the project is completed in 2023, both directions of the 405 in that stretch will have an additional general-purpose lane, along with a new express toll lane, officials say. The existing carpool lane in both directions will be converted to an express lane.
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Source: Los Angeles Times
