The 16-mile freeway expansion project between Costa Mesa, Calif., and the Los Angeles County line has broken ground. The I-405 Improvement Project will help reduce commute times by adding regular lanes and express lanes.
The $1.9 billion highway project, which is the largest under construction in California, is being led by the Orange County Transportation Authority in partnership with Caltrans.
In addition to constructing the new lanes, the project will build, widen or replace more than 18 bridges, and improve freeway access and traffic on local streets. All this work is critical to accommodate expected growth in Orange County and throughout the region. Traffic on I-405 is anticipated to grow 30 percent by 2040.
Projections show that without these improvements, by 2040 it would take more than two hours to travel this 16-mile stretch, but with the improvements travel times are estimated to be reduced to about 30 minutes in the regular lanes and about 15 minutes if a driver chooses to take the 405 Express Lanes.
The I-405 Improvement Project, set to be completed in 2023, is being funded with a combination of local, state and federal funds, including a $629 million federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan. The federal loan will save taxpayers approximately $300 million compared to traditional financing methods.
