405 Freeway Reopens Ahead of Schedule

The 405 Freeway reopened at noon, well in advance of its originally scheduled early Monday opening, a senior Caltrans official said.

The reopening of connectors, on-ramps and off-ramps will follow, in that order.

Demolition has been completed and inspectors conducted cleanup this morning, said Caltrans district supervisor Michael Miles.

"Things went very smoothly," Miles said.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made an announcement on the progress at 11 a.m. at the bridge construction site.

Meanwhile, public safety and transportation officials are reporting a job well done amid large-scale preparations. Traffic was extremely light over the weekend, with as many as twice the number of people on subways and bus lines, said Aram Sahakian, an engineer with the Department of Transportation and a member of the emergency response team.

"We didn’t have a crystal ball to see what’s coming our way," Sahakian said. "We prepared for the worst case scenario, period."

The department is gathering data on the impact to local businesses. While the word is that people shopped local, venues such as the Coliseum reported thinner crowds to events such as the soccer game Saturday night between the Los Angeles Galaxy and Real Madrid.