A six-mile section of the Long Beach (710) Freeway from Bell to Downey will be closed for parts of 10 weekends, beginning tonight, so crews can rehabilitate aging pavement.
The extended closures — including full and partial closures — will begin at 11:59 p.m. on Fridays and continue through 5 a.m. on Mondays, said Maria Raptis of Caltrans.
The work will be done on 10 consecutive weekends, except for the Labor
Day weekend, Raptis said.
During those times, the freeway will be closed from the Glenn Anderson
(105) Freeway to Atlantic Boulevard in the cities of Bell, Bell Gardens,
Cudahy, South Gate and Downey.
The work will proceed as follows:
On Friday at 11:59 p.m., the freeway will be closed, and the closure
will continue through Saturday at 6 a.m. During this time, workers will install
moveable median barriers and re-stripe the lanes of the northbound side of the
freeway.
When the freeway reopens for traffic on Saturday at 6 a.m., the barriers
will guide northbound and southbound motorists onto the northbound side of
the freeway, while crews work to resurface the southbound side.
Traffic will be restricted to 45 mph, and no oversize loads will be
permitted because the lanes will be a little narrower than usual, Raptis said.
On Sunday at 11 p.m., the freeway will be closed again, while workers
remove the temporary moveable barriers and re-stripe the lanes again, so that
the freeway can be reopened by 5 a.m. for the Monday morning commute.
The following ramps and connectors will be closed throughout the weekend:
– Eastbound and westbound onramps to the northbound freeway from Imperial Highway, Firestone Boulevard and Florence Avenue;
– Eastbound and westbound onramps to the southbound freeway from Atlantic Boulevard, Florence Avenue and Firestone Boulevard;
– Eastbound and westbound offramps from the southbound freeway at Florence Avenue and Firestone Boulevard; and
– Eastbound and westbound connectors from the 105 Freeway to the
northbound 710 Freeway.
The closures are weather permitting, and subject to change.
After about five weekends, the work will be done on the opposite side of
the 710 Freeway, and traffic patterns will be adjusted accordingly, Raptis
said. The work is part of the I-710 Long Life pavement Project from Firestone Boulevard to Atlantic Boulevard.
