PLANNED CLOSING OF THE SAN DIEGO (405) FREEWAY Saturday night in Westminster has been postponed.

The full freeway closure and overnight closures of the Bolsa Avenue bridge and nearby freeway ramps are necessary to demolish part of the bridge over I-405, as part of the I-405 Improvement Project.

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Interstate 405 (San Diego Freeway) between Beach Boulevard and Goldenwest Street in Westminster is scheduled to close overnight on Saturday, April 6, as part of the I-405 Improvement Project, as work begins to demolish the Bolsa Avenue bridge.

The full freeway closure and overnight closures of the Bolsa Avenue bridge and nearby freeway ramps are necessary to demolish part of the bridge over I-405. The closures are scheduled from approximately 11 p.m. on Saturday, April 6, to 8 a.m. on Sunday, April 7.

During this weekend’s freeway closure, northbound drivers will be detoured off the freeway at Beach Boulevard, and southbound drivers will be detoured off at Goldenwest Street.

Other overnight closures include:

• Northbound I-405 on-ramps from Beach Boulevard
• Northbound and southbound I-405 ramps at Bolsa Avenue
• Southbound I-405 on-ramp from southbound Goldenwest Street/Westminster Mall Road

Detours will be in place to guide drivers around the closures.

Drivers should expect delays in the area and are encouraged to use alternate routes if possible. Up-to-date closure and detour information is available on the project’s interactive map at octa.net/405map.

The $1.9 billion I-405 Improvement Project will add one regular lane in each direction between Euclid Street and I-605, and a second lane in each direction in the center of the freeway from SR-73 to I-605 that will combine with the existing carpool lanes to form the 405 Express Lanes.

The Bolsa Avenue bridge is the seventh of more than 18 bridges to be built, widened or replaced as part of the project, which will speed up travel times on I-405 between Costa Mesa and the Los Angeles County line, an area traveled by more than 370,000 vehicles a day.

The bridge is expected to take up to two years to reconstruct. It will be demolished and reconstructed in two stages, allowing it to remain open to traffic during construction.

Improvements to the Bolsa Avenue bridge include increasing the total number of lanes from five to seven, and adding sidewalks and bike lanes in both directions.

This 16-mile segment of I-405 is one of the most heavily traveled stretches of highway in the nation, and both the regular lanes and carpool lanes are heavily congested during rush hour and on weekends. The project is critical to accommodate expected employment, population and housing growth throughout the region.

It currently takes drivers about an hour to travel this section of freeway during rush hour, and without the project, the commute is projected to double in the next 20 years. Once the project is finished in 2023, it is expected to take about 30 minutes to drive the 16 miles during rush hour in the regular lanes and about 15 minutes in the 405 Express Lanes.

People are encouraged to visit the project website at www.octa.net/405improvement to sign up for construction alerts via automated call, text message or email.