Crews successfully reopened the southbound San Diego Freeway (I-405) to traffic hours ahead of schedule at 2:20 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18 after a nearly 18-hour overnight full freeway closure between the San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605) and Valley View Street in Westminster. The northbound I-405 also reopened to traffic earlier than expected at 3 p.m.
“The bridge has been bashed, I-405 is once again open for business and we greatly appreciate the patience and understanding of the traveling public,” OCTA Chairman Greg Winterbottom said. “A demolition like this is no easy task, and I want to thank the teams from Atkinson Construction, Cleveland Wrecking Company, Caltrans and OCTA for completing the job safely and on time.”
The construction team had shut down the freeway in order to safely and efficiently demolish a 50-year-old bridge that had linked the southbound I-405 to eastbound Garden Grove Freeway (SR-22).
This portion of the freeway between Seal Beach Boulevard and the SR-22 experiences the nation's highest traffic volumes with 379,000 vehicles on the freeway on a typical busy day, according to a report released Aug. 19 by the Federal Highway Administration.
During the estimated $700,000 demolition, approximately 70 workers utilized more than 50 pieces of equipment, including 10 excavators, to chip away at the bridge, while 120 steel plates protected the freeway surface below.
Crews will recycle the concrete from the old bridge and use the material on other parts of the project.
Caltrans also took advantage of the closure to perform maintenance activities that would normally require separate closures over a seven-day period.
Crews performed crack sealing, weed abatement and median drainage cleaning during the closure. This work helped save taxpayer dollars and prevented future additional inconvenience for drivers.
Throughout the demolition process, unprecedented numbers of news outlets covered the "Bridge Bash."
With near-constant coverage on multiple live television and radio stations, the news media helped OCTA raise public awareness about the freeway closure and provide detour information to mitigate traffic congestion on one of the busiest freeways in the nation.
Live updates using the #BridgeBash hashtag on social media sites also helped advise hundreds of thousands of motorists to avoid the area or plan their detours ahead of time, and OCTA captured the entire demolition process on the time-lapse video above.
Click here for more information about the West County Connectors project.
