As you might have noticed, the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) is doing a lot of work on the Eastbound portion of the SR-22 (that would be the Garden Grove Freeway). This is part of a $20 million project that, when finally completed, will hopefully make the freeway safer.
“Due to a number of factors, there is a significant number of collisions on Eastbound State Route 22 between State Route 39 and Interstate 5 when compared to similar stretches of California highways,” according to the CalTrans website. “Most notably, the high volume of traffic contributes to an increase in the difficulty and delays that drivers face on this portion of infrastructure. The SR-22 Safety Improvement project proposes to shorten the length of the collector-distributor road and reconfigure Eastbound SR-22 at the Horseshoe connector. This work is the most recent in Caltrans’ efforts to improve the conditions on SR-22.”
Of course, doing this requires periodic road closures. We’ve already gone through a lot, and more are coming this week. In fact, they start tonight (Nov. 12).
“For five nights, starting on Tuesday, 11/12/19 through Saturday night 11/16/19, there will be a full closure of westbound SR-22 from Main Street up to the La Veta Avenue (near Bristol Street) On-ramp, a closure of eastbound SR-22 Collector-Distributor Road from Fairview Avenue to SR-57, and the northbound I-5 to westbound SR-22 Connector will be closed,” according to CalTrans. “On Tuesday, 11/12/19 through Thursday, 11/14/19, the closures will be from 10:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. the next morning, and on Friday, 11/15/19, and Saturday, 11/16/19, the closures will be from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. the next morning.”
Here’s a schedule of what exactly will be shut down, and how to get around it:
• The westbound On-ramp for Main Street will be closed
• To access westbound SR-22, use the La Veta Avenue On-ramp near Bristol Street
• The eastbound On ramps for Fairview Avenue, The City Drive, and Bristol Street will be closed
• To access eastbound SR- 22, use the Main Street On-ramp
• To exit eastbound SR-22, use either the Fairview Avenue or The City Drive Off-ramps
• To access northbound or southbound I-5, use the Main Street I-5 On-ramps
• To access northbound SR-57, use either the Main Street northbound I-5 or Chapman Avenue SR-57 On-ramps
• To access SR-22 westbound from I-5 northbound, use the SR-57 northbound connector, exit Orangewood Avenue, go west (left) and use the SR-57 southbound On-ramp to westbound SR-22.
Click here for more information on CalTrans’s SR-22 project.
Anthony Pignataro has been a journalist since 1996. He spent a dozen years as Editor of MauiTime, the last alt weekly in Hawaii. He also wrote three trashy novels about Maui, which were published by Event Horizon Press. But he got his start at OC Weekly, and returned to the paper in 2019 as a Staff Writer.