GRANADA HILLS : Westbound Simi Valley Freeway Lanes to Reopen

To the relief of many traffic-maddened motorists, all five westbound lanes of the Simi Valley Freeway--the last major bottleneck from the Northridge quake--will reopen this weekend, a top state transportation official confirmed Tuesday.

The eastbound lanes will follow next Wednesday, making all 10 lanes available to motorists at the San Fernando Mission Boulevard and Bull Creek overpasses, despite construction delays that once were expected to push the reopening date back to mid-September

Construction workers, who have toiled around the clock for months, were putting the finishing touches Tuesday on the westbound side of the reconstructed spans, which sagged by as much as four feet in some spots after the quake. Repairs on the eastbound lanes, which now serve as a detour for traffic in both directions, wrapped up in May.