Highway Update : Accelerated Earthquake Repair Allows 1-5 to Reopen Early

The collapse of the Golden State Freeway (Interstate 5) at Gavin Canyon in the Northridge earthquake severed the main artery between Southern California and the rest of the state. A four-lane detour along The Old Road was constructed two weeks later to handle traffic, which nonetheless continued to bottleneck through the Newhall Pass.

Workers scrambled to restore the freeway by the June 8 deadline but found the work more arduous than on the shattered Santa Monica Freeway because of the 80-foot high columns and occasionally adverse weather conditions. However, round-the-clock shifts still allowed Caltrans to open the freeway three weeks ahead of schedule, earning contractor E. L. Yeager Construction Co. of Riverside a $4.5-million bonus in addition to the $14.8-million contract.

The damaged interchange between the I-5 and Highway 14, a few miles to the south, is to be completely repaired by the end of year, with a first phase by the end of July.

Repairing collapsed 1-5 bridges Both lanes of I-5 split in two places over The Old Road in Gavin Canyon, north of the interchange. The re-routing and repair timetable is shown below: Jan. 17: Bridges collapsed Jan. 27: Bridges demolished Jan. 29: Detour opened Jan. 30: Repair work began Feb., March, April: Round-the-clock construction May 17: Southbound lanes open May 18: Northbound lanes to open June 8: Original deadline

Resources needed Reinforcing steel: 3.6 million lbs. Steel beams: 3 million tons Structural concrete: 16,000 cubic yds. Concrete pavement; 5,000 cubic yds. Columns: 12 measuring 8 ft. in diameter and 75 to 80 ft. high. Workers: 200, three times the normal number

Repair status of Highway 14 Highway 14 needed to be fixed in two places: 1. 450-foot section of Hwy. 14 connector to southbound I-5 fell onto I-5. (shown above) 2. 300-foot section of southbound Hwy. 14 connector to north I-5 fell adjacent to truck lane. (not shown) Rebuilding bridges at the interchange is being done in two phases: Stage 1: Kasler Corp. is rebuilding two of the four bridges. Work began March 19 to reconstruct the southbound Hwy. 14 ramp to the southbound I-5. The northbound I-5 ramp to northbound Hwy. 14 will also be rebuilt. Scheduled completion: By July 28. Stage 2: Contracts haven’t been awarded yet to rebuild the two remaining interchange ramps. Southbound Hwy. 14 to northbound I-5 is expected to be awarded by the end of June, and southbound I-5 to northbound Hwy. 14 is expected to be awarded by the end of July. Estimated completion: By the end of the year. Source: Caltrans; Researched by HENRY CHU / Los Angeles Times