From Carmageddon to Carcadia Chaos

You may have avoided Carmageddon/Carpocalypse last weekend, but can you avoid Carcadia Chaos for the rest of the summer?

All eastbound lanes of the 210 Freeway began being shut down last week between exits at Baldwin Avenue and Santa Anita Avenue and will continue to be shut down more frequently as work accelerates on the installation of a to carry the Gold Line train from the freeway median across to meet the tracks that run through Arcadia.

Click here to see a 5 ½-minute YouTube video by Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority of the design and prep work for the construction of what I call the “basket bridge” that will eventually (2015) carry the light rail train to its next stop in Arcadia at First Avenue and Santa Clara (specifics about the freeway closures don’t come more than four minutes in to the video).

The freeway will be closed from midnight to 5 a.m. many nights, during which time traffic will be diverted off the freeway at Baldwin and detoured north to Foothill Boulevard east to Santa Anita where they will turn south until they once again reach the eastbound entrance to the freeway.

Already some partial closures--of the HOV and inside fast lanes--began even earlier at 10 p.m. and were scheduled to run until 6 a.m.

Initially construction crews are clearing brush and foliage along the center median in order to begin installation of a 20-foot tall, 500-foot long retaining wall. Temporary concrete barriers will be installed along and slightly above the freeway’s permanent center median barrier to prevent loose soil from making its way onto the freeway. Officials say they are hoping to only have construction on the foundation done by the end of the summer. No telling how much longer work will continue beyond that or how the building of the actual span over the freeway will impact traffic.

There is supposed to be updated information about specific freeway closures at the CalTrans site (I couldn’t find it), this 24-hour toll-free “hotline”: 855-446-1160 (no one answered when I called twice), and at this web site: www.foothillextension.org (the info was four days old last I checked, but it’s somewhat helpful).

Read more by Scott Hettrick at ArcadiasBest.com.