OCTA and Caltrans recently marked the opening of the northern segment of the Northbound 57 Freeway Widening Project with a commemorative photo and a first drive on the newly finished roadway. This is one of two projects designed to increase capacity and improve operations on State Route 57 (SR-57), one of north Orange County’s key freeways.
OCTA Chairman Shawn Nelson, Director Tim Shaw, and CEO Darrell Johnson joined Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty and elected officials from the cities of Placentia, Fullerton, Brea and La Habra in celebrating SR-57’s importance to the region’s growth and quality of life.
Funded in part by Measure M, Orange County’s half-cent sales tax for transportation, the project improves connectivity to residential communities, business centers and other destinations, including Ole’ Town Placentia, California State University Fullerton, and downtown Brea by adding a new five-mile northbound general-purpose lane from Orangethorpe Avenue in Placentia to Lambert Road in Brea.
In addition to the new lane, other benefits for commuter and commercial motorists include newly reconstructed and realigned on and off-ramps, new striping, lighting and signage. In addition, continuous access carpool lanes were added to make entering and exiting the carpool lanes more efficient.
During the project, crews built six sound walls and 30 retaining walls and widened 13 bridges.
Later this year, OCTA and Caltrans are scheduled to open the southern segment of this route by adding a lane between Katella Avenue and Lincoln Road in Anaheim.
