210 closed all week

All eastbound lanes of the I-210 Foothill Freeway will be closed the next five nights through Arcadia from Baldwin Avenue to Santa Anita Avenue as work continues on the bridge to carry the Gold Line Foothill Extension train beginning in 2016.

Full closures will begin at midnight each night beginning Sunday, Sept. 9 through 5 a.m. Monday morning. Sept. 10, and continue through Thursday night/Friday morning Sept. 13/14. Nearby on-ramp closures start about 9 p.m. each night, followed by individual eastbound lanes of the 210 beginning to be closed one at a time about 10 p.m.

Traffic will be detoured to Foothill Boulevard. To avoid delays, use of alternate routes like the eastbound I-10 San Bernardino Freeway are suggested.

Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority representative Rodrigo Gonzalez said at last week’s Government Affairs Forum at the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce that the falsework on the iconic bridge over the 210 freeway will come down and reveal the bridge itself over the next six weeks. Up to 20 full closures of the freeway will be required during this process.

After more than one year of intense activity, all structural work has been completed on the bridge. “The bridge can now stand on its own,” said Construction Authority CEO Habib F. Balian. With the structure now fully secure on its own, the temporary support structure will now be removed. The “falsework,” which was installed in a series of nighttime closures in February and March, has supported the bridge while under construction. Up to 20 nighttime closures of the eastbound I-210 Freeway will take place over the next six weeks through mid-October to safely remove this temporary structure.

“The removal of the falsework is even more challenging than the installation,” said Balian. “When Skanska installed the support structure there was nothing around. Now they need to work around the bridge, as well as over an active freeway.”

“We understand that these closures can be inconvenient and we appreciate the community’s patience,” added Balian. “We encourage motorists and truckers who can use other routes to do so.”

When finished, the bridge will feature columns designed to resemble Native American baskets, in recognition of the first residents of the area – the Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribe. The baskets are under development now, and will be installed after the falsework removal process is complete.

The bridge is on schedule to be completed in December. In addition to the upcoming basket installation, additional work to be completed on the bridge includes: concrete placement for the barrier walls on either side of the deck, building retaining walls on the ingress and egress to the bridge, landscaping and lighting. In December, the bridge will be turned over to the Construction Authority, and future work to add the utilities, track and other light rail features.

Gonzalez also said that a bridge completion ceremony is scheduled for December 15 at Newcastle Park in Arcadia, with details to be forthcoming.

In the freeway’s center median, heavy machinery is demolishing the remaining portions of the previous retaining wall. Specialists are out sandblasting the superstructure’s exterior and crews are encasing the last of the post-tensioning ducts on the eastern abutment. The locations of these activities are shown in photo at right.

For additional information, please visit www.foothillextension.org or call the project hotline at 855-446-1160. You may also sign-up at: http://www.foothillextension.org/ or follow the project on Facebook and Twitter. To receive text alerts about freeway closures, text from your cell phone “GOLDLINENEWS” to 888777.

— By Scott Hettrick