L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl is urging Pacific Palisades residents to stay home this weekend while the 405 Freeway is closed in both directions from midnight Friday to 6 a.m. Monday for bridge demolition. ‘You live in a beautiful area; stay there and enjoy yourself,’ Rosendahl said from his West L.A. office. ‘Go shopping on Swarthmore and in the Village.’ All northbound lanes will be closed for 10 miles between the 10 Freeway and the 101 Freeway, and the southbound lanes will be closed for four miles between the 101 and Getty Center Drive during demolition of the southern half of the Mulholland Bridge. Tomorrow, ramps will start shutting down at 7 p.m. and lane closures will begin at 10 p.m. to ensure full freeway closure by midnight. Ramps and connectors are expected to reopen early Monday morning. As a result of the closure, Pacific Coast Highway will be the main highway available to travelers coming south from Santa Barbara, Ventura and Malibu. That north-south artery is already bumper-to-bumper on hot summer weekends. PCH THIRD LANE OPEN. In anticipation of the 405 closure, K-rails blocking the third southbound lane on PCH between Potrero Canyon and Chautauqua will be removed. The lane will be temporarily paved and restriped at a cost of $30,000 to$40,000. The lane is currently closed for construction of the Coastal Interceptor Relief Sewer. Once the 405 reopens, the K-rail will be re-installed and that lane closed again until construction is completed in August. ‘This will ease traffic between Temescal and Chautauqua,’ said Pacific Palisades Community Council Chair Janet Turner. ‘But it is still best to stay at home most of the weekend, or bike or hike around town. Be prepared for Sunset to be bumper-to-bumper.’ FARMERS’ MARKET. Turner said that vendors are planning to sell their goods at the Swarthmore farmers’ market on Sunday, but Rosendahl warns that some of them may have trouble getting to the Palisades. ELDERLY RELATIVES. Residents are cautioned that if they have an elderly relative(s) in the San Fernando Valley, they should consider spending the weekend with this relative. In case of an emergency, it could be difficult getting to that person in a timely fashion. ‘The closure of the freeway could create a paralyzing situation,’ said Rosendahl, noting that Sepulveda Boulevard will be open, but is intended as an alternate route for local resident access only and will not have the capacity to accommodate both local and diverted freeway traffic. Metro warns that those using Sepulveda should expect extreme congestion and lengthy delays, and to completely bypass that area. GETTY CLOSED. The Getty Center in Brentwood will be closed all weekend, the first time since opening in 1997. The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades will remain open, but parking reservations are required. HOSPITALS STAFFED. St. John’s and UCLA hospitals have made plans for workers to stay on this side of the freeway in order to ensure full staffing. AIR TRAVEL. Rosendahl urges people traveling to LAX to allow extra time and if they have an early-morning flight to consider staying at a hotel near the airport because nobody can predict whether Los Angeles traffic will grind to a halt because of gridlock or whether traffic will actually be manageable because everyone heeds warnings and stays at home. MONDAY REOPENING. Another major question (fear!) is whether demolition will be completed by 6 a.m. Monday. ‘We figure we’ll be open by Monday,’ Rosendahl said. ‘But, if you have accumulated time saved from your job, you might want to ask for the day off.’ Only the south side of the Mulholland Bridge will be demolished this weekend, which means that in 11 months, the freeway will once again be closed for demolition of the north side of the bridge (originally built in 1960). Rosendahl is looking at the positive side of the closure. ‘It is a little disaster preparedness,’ he said. ‘We can use this experience as practice for a natural disaster.’ The $10.9 billion freeway construction project began in 2009 and is expected to be completed in spring 2013, adding a 10-mile carpool lane, modernized bridges and new ramps.
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