UPDATE Tuesday, April 26, 1:32pm | Orange COunty Transportation Authority officials announced Tuesday that the demolition of the I-405/Seventh Street connector bridge is scheduled to begin Wednesday night.

Residents and businesses located near the connector bridge are being warned that the work may be loud and disruptive. 

Additionally, motorists are being forewarned that portions of the 405 underneath the connector bridge will be closed to traffic while the structure overhead is being torn down.

All lanes of the southbound 405 will be closed from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday (April 27) and Saturday (April 30) nights. Two detours have ben established and are detailed below:

  • From the southbound 405, exit Studebaker Road and turn right, continue south on Studebaker Road. Turn left onto East Second Street / Westminster Avenue and proceed east on Westminster to access the southbound I-405 on-ramp. 
  • From the eastbound 22 Freeway / Seventh Street, exit Studebaker and turn right, continue south on Studebaker. Turn left onto East Second / Westminster and proceed east on Westminster to access the southbound I-405 on-ramp.  

All lanes of the northbound 405 will be closed from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Saturday (April 30) night. The established detour is detailed below:

  • From the northbound 405, exit Westminster and continue west, turn right on Studebaker, proceed north on Studebaker to access the northbound 405 on-ramp.

Additional closures and detours related to the OCTA’s overall West County Connectors project are detailed in a notice that can be accessed by clicking here. The OCTA is also advising that inclement weather or unforeseen operational factors may cause the dates and times noted to change. 
UPDATE Friday, April 15, 12:21pm | The roughly yearlong closure of the I-405/Seventh Street connector bridge and related traffic detours are set to begin Monday, according to the Orange County Transportation Authority.

The OCTA said that the official closure is slated to begin at 10 p.m. on the night of Monday, April 18.

The connector bridge, which routes northbound traffic off of the 405 and onto the westbound 22 (which turns into Seventh) will be demolished and rebuilt as part of the OCTA’s larger West County Connectors project. 

While the bridge is closed, lanes will be added to the 405, and an elevated carpool connector for the northbound 405 and northbound 605 freeways will be built.

During construction, northbound traffic on the 405 heading into Long Beach will be rerouted through parts of East Long Beach, meaning several surface streets will see a heavy increase in traffic for the same one-year period. Four detour routes have been established and are detailed, as well as shown on a map, below in our original post at the bottom of this page. 

Detailed detour information is also available at OCTA.net/WCCDetours.
 

UPDATE Tuesday, March 22, 7:32am |  The Orange County Transportation Authority will give a presentation on the upcoming yearlong closure of the I-405/Seventh Street connector bridge and related traffic detours through parts of East Long Beach at the next Rose Park Neighborhood Association meeting.

The meeting will be held Thursday in the Burbank Elementary School Auditorium from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The school is located at 501 Junipero Ave. All are welcome to attend.

UPDATE Friday, March 18, 11:45am | The Orange County Transportation Authority announced earlier this week that an official closure date has been set for the I-405/Seventh Street connector bridge, which is set to be demolished and rebuilt.

Joel Zlotnik, an OCTA spokesman, said Wednesday that westbound access into Long Beach from the 405 North using the Seventh Street bridge will be closed beginning the week of April 18. The construction work is part of the OCTA’s larger West County Connectors project. 

The project was originally set to begin earlier this month but was postponed because demolition plans for the bridge were not yet complete, OCTA officials said at the time.

Zlotnik said this week that the project contractor collaborated with the city of Long Beach to push back the start date until after the upcoming Long Beach Grand Prix, as well as to give the city additional time to complete various upgrades along detour routes in East Long Beach.

The connector bridge will be closed for one year while it is reconstructed to accommodate new carpool lanes on the I-405 beneath the bridge, Zlotnik said. 

During construction, northbound traffic on the 405 heading into Long Beach will be rerouted through parts of Long Beach, meaning several surface streets will see a heavy increase in traffic for the same one-year period. Four detour routes have been established, which are detailed and shown on a map below in the original post. Detailed detour information is also available atOCTA.net/WCCDetours.

The project is expected to improve traffic flow by directly connecting carpool lanes on the 405, 22 and 605 freeways. 

Zlotnik said construction will be handled in two segments. The east segment will create carpool connections between the 405 and 22 at Valley View Street south of Long Beach. It will also reconstruct the 405 South-to-22 East connector and reconstruct the Valley View Street bridge crossing over the 22.

The west segment will create carpool connections between the 405 and 605 and reconstruct the Seal Beach Boulevard and the Seventh Street bridges.

To sign up for e-mail alerts regarding this project, visit OCTA.net/westcounty.

Friday, March 4, 7:01pm | The Orange County Transportation Authority said earlier this week that the year-long closure of the I-405/Seventh Street connector and rerouting of freeway traffic onto Long Beach surface streets has been pushed back at least a few weeks.

Demolition of the freeway connector where the 405 and 22 freeways and Seventh Street connect was supposed to have begun early this month, but OCTA spokesman Joel Slotnik said the project start date has been pushed back to late March or mid-April because demolition plans have yet to be finalized.

The undertaking is part of the OCTA’s West Connectors Project, which aims to connect carpool lanes in a seamless manner. The connector, which is basically a bridge, takes northbound traffic off of the 405 and onto the westbound 22, which turns into Seventh. It’s being rebuilt so that lanes can be added to the 405 and to allow for the construction of an elevated carpool connector for the northbound 405 and northbound 605.

To view a 32-second public service announcement about the overall project, click here.

The $159 million connector project will force the rerouting of all northbound 405 traffic onto area surface streets for 12 consecutive months. The affected streets include Studebaker Road, Palo Verde Avenue and Seventh, Stearns and Willow streets.

The OCTA has come up with four different detour routes for northbound 405 traffic:

Detour 1: Northbound 405 traffic exits at Westminster Avenue in northern Orange County. Traffic will proceed west and turn right onto Studebaker and proceed north to Seventh and the 22.

Detour 2:  Northbound 405 traffic exits Seal Beach Boulevard and turns left. Traffic will proceed south, turn right onto Westminster (West Second Street), then right onto Studebaker and proceed north to Seventh and the 22.

Detour 3: Northbound 405 traffic exits Palo Verde and turns left. Traffic will proceed south, turn left onto Stearns and proceed to the southbound 405 onramp and head south on the 405 to the westbound 22 connector at Seventh.

Detour 4: Northbound 405 traffic exits Palo Verde and turns right. Traffic will proceed north, turn right onto Willow, proceed east and turn right onto Studebaker and proceed south to Seventh and the 22.

According to the OCTA, various steps are being taken to mitigate the impact of the diverted freeway traffic on the community.

OCTA is paying the city of Long Beach $1.5 million in mitigation compensation to cover costs associated with required improvements along the detour routes, such as traffic signal synchronization. Up to an additional $250,000 could be paid to cover city administration and engineering time associated with the improvements.

Additional improvements are being made to the Stearns freeway onramp and the West Second and North Studebaker intersection. Both the southbound 405 and the westbound 22 are being re-striped, as well.

The OCTA has been proactive in reaching out to the Long Beach community, staging dozens of informational meetings over the past year to keep residents and businesses in the loop. On Tuesday, the OCTA joined Councilman Pat O’Donnell at his monthly “Chat with Pat” meeting, and tomorrow it is scheduled to join Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske for another meeting.

Anyone interested in receiving e-mail notifications about upcoming closures and key project dates can register by visiting OCTA.net/westcounty. Those who do not have e-mail or would prefer to receive telephone notifications can request such calls on that web page, as well.

A toll-free construction hotline has been set up and can be reached by calling 800-724-0353

The map below depicts the various detour routes described above.