Foothill has been a zone of traffic and never-ending red lights for some time now, but it is about to get worse. Ramps are closing on several freeways, but the one that affects LCHS the most is the westbound I-210 Berkshire Place on-ramp and the Foothill Boulevard off-ramp that will close on October 30 and not reopen for roughly 45 days.
The construction project impacts the cities of Glendale, La Crescenta, Pasadena, and La Canada Flintridge. Its purpose is to replace the slab and pavement on the 210 foothill freeway. It also replaces the median barrier, fixes signs, and improves the surface to have higher friction. According to the California Department of Transportation, the times of construction will be Sunday through Friday from 7 pm to 6 am, but the ramps or lanes will remain closed after construction hours. The ramps will be closed in order to repair the roads and fix the guard rails. In addition to the ramps, the two outer lanes on I-210 heading west will remain closed up to the spring of 2018 for repair and replacement.
With lanes and ramps closed, traffic on foothill will increase immensely. Other routes can be taken to get to and back from school. If the off ramp at Berkshire is closed, the Arroyo Exit can be taken. After taking a left on Arroyo Boulevard, another left on Woodbury Road will lead you down Oak Grove Drive until you get to La Cañada High School. To get home from school, people can go down foothill and go up Angeles Crest to take the freeway if needed. Otherwise, a longer, but less crowded alternative route could be to follow Berkshire Place until it branches off into Commonwealth or Chevy Chase. These streets can then be taken to get to the Angeles Crest Freeway and cut through most of Foothill.
While construction times and accessibility are subject to change, this is the cloudy forecast for now.
Sources: California Department of Transportation
Photo: Creative Commons
