McFadden Avenue bridge closing for a year as part of 405 Freeway widening project

The McFadden Avenue bridge over the 405 Freeway in Huntington Beach and Westminster will close at 10 p.m. Tuesday and stay out of service for about a year so it can be rebuilt as part of a massive $1.9-billion freeway widening project.

Demolition of the bridge is expected to begin Aug. 18 and continue for multiple nights.

Once rebuilt, it will include two lanes in each direction and a sidewalk and a bike lane in each direction, according to Orange County Transportation Authority spokesman Eric Carpenter. The current configuration has one lane in each direction and a sidewalk on the north side of the bridge.

It’s the first of more than 18 bridges that will be built, widened or replaced for the 405 widening, which Transportation Authority officials say will help improve travel times on the freeway.

During the McFadden bridge demolition, both directions of the 405 will be closed from about 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily between Beach Boulevard and Bolsa Avenue, officials said.

The following detours will be available during the bridge’s closure:

• Eastbound McFadden Avenue to northbound Goldenwest Street to eastbound Bolsa Avenue to southbound Beach Boulevard
• Eastbound McFadden to southbound Goldenwest to eastbound Edinger Avenue to northbound Beach
• Westbound McFadden to northbound Beach to westbound Bolsa to southbound Goldenwest
• Westbound McFadden to southbound Beach to westbound Edinger to northbound Goldenwest

The 405 project will affect the 16-mile portion between the 73 Freeway in Costa Mesa and the 605 Freeway near Rossmoor.

When the project is completed in 2023, both directions of the 405 in that stretch will have an additional general-purpose lane, along with a new “express” toll lane, officials say. The existing carpool lane in both directions will be converted to an express lane.

For more information, visit octa.net/405improvement.

Priscella.Vega@latimes.com

Twitter: @vegapriscella

UPDATES:

1:55 p.m.: This article was updated with information about the bridge’s new configuration.

This article was originally published at 1:30 p.m.