Weekend closure of 101 Freeway stretch near downtown LA continues through Sunday

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- A 2 1/2-mile stretch of the Santa Ana (101) Freeway east of downtown Los Angeles will remain closed Saturday as weekend-long work continues on a project to replace the Sixth Street Viaduct.

The closure began at 10 p.m. Friday and will continue until 3 p.m. Sunday. It stretches from the Santa Monica (10) Freeway on the south to the 5/10/101 interchange on the north.

It will be the second closure of the stretch to accommodate the work to remove the false work on the aging structure.

The freeway was also closed during the weekend of Oct. 22-24, but that planned 41-hour closure actually lasted only 26 hours, with crews completing their work ahead of schedule, according to the city Bureau of Engineering. During the closure, motorists traveling westbound on the Pomona (60) Freeway from the Pomona area will not be able to access the 101 Freeway.

Those motorists will be detoured north on the Long Beach (710) Freeway to the westbound 10/101 Freeway. Southbound motorists on the 101 can take the Harbor (110) Freeway south, then head east on the 10 Freeway to bypass the closed freeway section.

"The Bureau of Engineering has completed installation of cable hangers along the arches above the 101 Freeway,'' according to the city. "That span is now fully supported and no longer requires the supporting false work under the bridge. The contractor will remove the false work during the closure.''

The work is part of the city's $588 million Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement Project, replacing a 1930s-era structure that is considered seismically unsound.

The new viaduct, set to be completed in summer of next year, is the largest bridge project in city history.

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