# Construction on the 405
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 19, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637 "2011-07-19T22:27:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/1 "2011-07-19T22:27:14Z")
Per news stories they stopped traffic to demolish all or part of a bridge on the 405. The news stories I saw never explained where the traffic went when it resumed on Monday morning. Can you explain in a sentence or two where the traffic is going now?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/2 "2011-07-19T22:34:44Z")
It went back on the 405.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/3 "2011-07-19T22:41:08Z")
The bridge carried a fairly minor local road \*over \*the 405. It wasn’t part of the 405.
They just had to stop 405 traffic to be able to get equipment in to remove the bridge and haul it away. Once it was gone the 405 reopened.
The big fear was hitting a snag on the removal and not being able to reopen the 405 for the Monday AM commute. That would have been real ugly.
In the end, it all worked out OK.
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### Author:  [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/4 "2011-07-20T14:18:00Z")
No, drivers weren’t waiting in the 405 lanes for 48 hours. They were detoured around the construction area, or took different routes.
The highway was closed around 7pm Friday, and reopened 1130 Sunday morning.
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### Author:  [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/5 "2011-07-20T14:44:10Z")
So if it was just tearing down one bridge, why did they close 10 miles of 405? That seems a bit excessive.
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### Author:  [@conway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conway)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/6 "2011-07-20T14:57:58Z")
Actually they only tore down half the bridge…that is…one lane of the bridge.
They’ll tear the other half down in a year. The bridge is being rebuilt to accommodate the widening of the 405.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/7 "2011-07-20T15:04:30Z")
> [@Hermitian](#):
>
> So if it was just tearing down one bridge, why did they close 10 miles of 405? That seems a bit excessive.
They probably closed between major interchanges in order to avoid having people trying to make all sorts of crazy detours through smaller surface streets. Instead, they are forced to detour around using the major highways.
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/8 "2011-07-20T15:47:17Z")
> [@yabob](#):
>
> They probably closed between major interchanges in order to avoid having people trying to make all sorts of crazy detours through smaller surface streets. Instead, they are forced to detour around using the major highways.
Yes, the bridge that was torn down crosses the 405 through some fairly hilly terrain, where the side streets are very curvy and confusing. If they had just shut down the freeway under the bridge, and let people off at the exit before, it would have been unbelievably chaotic.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/9 "2011-07-20T16:02:33Z")
Look at the satellite shots of the pass. Just shutting down the 405 at the point of demolition would destroy the world. Much better to force people to re-route on other freeways or better yet stay home during the closure.
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### Author:  [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/10 "2011-07-20T16:48:22Z")
I had formed the notion that Caltrans was doing some other work “while we’ve got the road shut down anyway.” There is a huge amount of construction work of one type or another in progress on the 405, pretty much from the Mulholland bridge all the way to the 10. It would make sense to me, at least, to jump all over a full freeway closure if it would be beneficial.
Is there anything to that, or did my mind invent it?
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### Author:  [@conway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conway)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/11 "2011-07-20T17:34:01Z")
No, they didn’t do anything else. They wouldn’t take any chances that they couldn’t finish by Monday morning’s commute.
The media covered this thing to a ridiculous extent.
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### Author:  [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/12 "2011-07-20T21:41:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> The bridge carried a fairly minor local road \*over \*the 405. It wasn’t part of the 405. …
Ah. Thanks. It wasn’t clear in the news I saw that it was not part of the 405. Now it makes sense.
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### Author:  [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/13 "2011-07-21T05:21:03Z")
All this talk about “ **the 405** ” and not one comment from the “I-405” folks? A strange day on the boards.
😃
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### Author:  [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/14 "2011-07-21T14:12:07Z")
> [@JpnDude](#):
>
> All this talk about “ **the 405** ” and not one comment from the “I-405” folks? A strange day on the boards.
>
> 😃
I heard an NPR report about the road opening early. The newsreader actually started to say ‘the’, but quickly corrected herself with ‘interstate 405’.
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### Author:  [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-on-the-405/589637/15 "2011-07-21T16:16:23Z")
> [@yabob](#):
>
> They probably closed between major interchanges in order to avoid having people trying to make all sorts of crazy detours through smaller surface streets. Instead, they are forced to detour around using the major highways.
That was the problem, there really are no surface streets to detour on since the freeway goes through the Sepulveda pass. Just Sepulveda Blvd, which is 1 or 2 lanes throughout the pass, no way you can possibly put 500,000 cars on it over a weekend and not expect people’s heads to asplode