By Jacqueline DeMarco
Starting Monday, Nov. 3 at 12:01 a.m. Ortega Highway will close between Interstate 5 and Del Obispo St. in San Juan Capistrano for approximately three weeks as part of the I-5/Ortega Highway Interchange Improvement Project.
Crews will reconfigure the roadway on this stretch of Ortega Highway during the closure. The improvement project, costing $86 million, includes the widening of the Ortega Highway bridge and the reconstruction of on- and off-ramps in order to help relieve traffic, according to an alert issued by the Orange County Transportation Authority.
During this period the Ortega Highway Bridge will be closed to pedestrians. The southbound I-5 on-ramp will also remain closed. Direct access to downtown will be limited, but motorists can use Junipero Serra Road or San Juan Creek Road/Camino Capistrano to get to downtown. Both northbound and southbound motorists on the I-5 can continue to use the Ortega Highway exit to travel eastbound on Ortega Highway. The southbound motorists exiting at Ortega Highway will not be able to turn right and northbound motorists who turn left after exiting at Ortega Highway will be redirected back to the northbound I-5. Westbound motorists who do not use detours on La Novia Avenue or Rancho Viejo Road will be directed onto the I-5 ramp because of the bridge closure.
The on-ramp and reconfigured roadway are expected to reopen on Nov. 25. Traffic will be shifted to the newly constructed bridge and newly constructed portion of the southbound I-5 off-ramp.
See www.octa.net/ortega for more information.
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