From the Sun Valley offices of Jose Mier:
As you probably already know, Sun Valley freeway traffic on Interstate 5 was shut down last weekend as crews tore apart the bridge spanning the freeway at Burbank Blvd. It was completed ahead of schedule. Disruption to Sun Valley traffic was minimal since it took place over a weekend and also during the lighter-than-usual traffic due to the coronavirus.
While traffic has resumed in both north and south directions, there is currently no overpass at Burbank Blvd. and won’t be until the construction of the replacement bridge is complete sometime in 2021.
I did learn however that the on-ramp on the southbound side of the 5 freeway is now open at Burbank Blvd. Traffic making the exit from the freeway will be forced to turn right when turning onto Burbank Blvd and head toward Victory Blvd (in the direction of Costco).
According to My5LA, the new bridge is needed to accommodate new and wider freeway lanes (carpool). The bridge itself will be wider and have more lanes, a bike lane and wider sidewalks.
This all seems like good news, especially the addition of carpool lanes on this section of Interstate 5. Traffic has traditionally been (to put it mildly) a pain in this area at times especially during rush hour commutes from Sun Valley southward to downtown Los Angeles (and northbound on the return trip). The section around Olive Ave. just before Burbank Blvd being the worst.
While the scheduled completion for this section of the freeway and overpass is set for 2021, there is no hard and fast date and the timeframe is dependent on weather and other factors. Given that construction in the Sun Valley sector of I-5 has gone on for some years now, a final end to the disruption will be welcomed by most of our residents.
Because Sun Valley is so close (relatively) to downtown LA and since the 5 freeway basically bisects Sun Valley, the amount of travel done on this freeway by our community residents is high. Also, once the coronavirus shutdown is eased, traffic levels will go back to “normal” for our area and we will once again have to deal with increased commute times.