With the Burbank Blvd bridge and the Golden State freeway as the backdrop, Caltrans announced at their press conference Thursday the 1-5 freeway will be closed in both directions at the City of Burbank in late April, while the Burbank Boulevard bridge will be closed to motor traffic starting on March 14.
Working closely with the City of Burbank and Metro LA, the freeway closure will be the biggest since the 2012 closure of the 405 West LA, infamously dubbed Carmaggedon. Lasting 36 hours, the closure starts Saturday, April 25 at 3 p.m. and ends at 3 a.m. on Monday, April 27. During the closure, Caltrans workers will demolish the Burbank bridge to make way for a new and improved bridge.
In an effort to avoid a Burbank Carmaggedon, Caltrans will place signs with alternate freeway routes and detours along the I-5 starting from the northbound 1-5/405 freeway split in Irvine and along the 1-5 southbound. Caltrans and the CHP have asked the public to use the alternate routes or stay home.
“If you absolutely need to come out here and drive in this area during the closure, make sure you have a plan and have an alternate route. Give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination,” said Captain Tai Vong from the CHP. “If you absolutely don’t have to be in this area during the 5 closure, please just stay away altogether.”
Alternate routes will be the 405, 101, 02, and 134 for northbound drivers, and for southbound motorists the 210, 118, 405, and the 170 freeways. The last exits to Burbank will be northbound Olive Street and southbound Empire Avenue.
Caltrans is currently working with first responders to find them alternate routes and with the Hollywood Burbank Airport to plan northbound routes to the airport.
Burbank Blvd. bridge will be closed to motorists on Saturday, March 14 starting at 12:01 a.m. allowing contractors to prepare the bridge for demolition. The new bridge will open in 14 to 16 months.
Ten lanes wide, left-turn lanes in both directions, bike paths, a wide sidewalk on the south side of the bridge and three through lanes in both directions, the new bridge will be 150 feet wider than the previous one. Drivers will turn left to enter the north or southbound freeways using new on-ramps. The current looped on-ramps will be changed to straight on-ramps.
The bridge and freeway closures are part of Caltrans’ $355 million 1-5 corridor improvement in Burbank; it is a section of the larger ongoing I-5 North Corridor Improvement Projects. New HOV lanes, improvements, and upgrades will be added to the freeway.
For updates and further information go to Caltrans website my5LA.com, and their Twitter account @my5la. My5la tweets are retweeted on Caltrans’ twitter, @caltransdist7. You can also subscribe to My5LA email updates on the My5LA website.
