Overnight closures of 101 Fwy in Agoura Hills to begin for wildlife crossing construction
AGOURA HILLS, Calif. (KABC) -- The southbound 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills will be closed overnight this week as construction of a much-anticipated wildlife crossing over the freeway gets underway.
The closures will start Monday night and will last several weeks and Caltrans crews work to install massive concrete beams over the freeway.
All southbound lanes will be closed between Cheseboro and Liberty Canyon roads from 11 p.m. through 4 a.m. Tuesday. The overnight closures will be repeated during the same hours Monday through Friday nights, although the closures may last longer on Saturday mornings.
Some lanes may be closed as early as 7 p.m.
The closures are necessary for crews to lift and install large concrete beams, or girders, over the freeway. Each of the girders weighs between 126 and 140 tons.
"We have to place, in a period of 6-8 weeks, up to 82 concrete girders that are long enough to stretch from the shoulder of the freeway to the median," said Marc Bischoff with Caltrans District 7.
Once that work is complete, the closures will shift to the northbound side. Those closures will be from 11:59 p.m. through 5 a.m. each night.
"We are very excited to celebrate this big milestone in the construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. With the placement of the horizontal supports, the structure is truly going to start looking like the bridge it will become," Beth Pratt, California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, said in a statement. "We know that closures of the freeway do have impacts on traffic and the community, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."
Drivers who need to get through the area during the closures are advised to use the 118 Freeway as an alternate route between State Route 23 and the 405 Freeway, Caltrans officials said. More localized detours on area streets will also be in place.
Construction on the wildlife crossing began in 2022, and it is expected to be completed by late 2025 or early 2026.
The fully landscaped crossing will span over all 10 lanes of the freeway. It is designed to provide a connection between the small population of mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains and the larger and genetically diverse populations to the north. The crossing will be the largest of its type in the nation, officials said.
More information about the project is available online at 101wildlifecrossing.org.
City News Service contributed to this report.
