Atmospheric rivers meant trouble, but westbound drivers can now exit at Reseda Boulevard
The off-ramp from westbound 118 Freeway onto Reseda Boulevard in Porter Ranch has reopened after being closed for more than a year, Caltrans announced on Thursday, May 18. The ramp was shut down in April of 2022 due to a sinkhole caused by a broken drainage pipe.
It was supposed to reopen by the end of 2022. But atmospheric rivers that hammered Southern California caused numerous sinkholes in the region and forced a delay in the project. All that water “over-saturated the soil within the project boundaries and caused damage to the construction site,” according to Caltrans.
Now that the ramp is done, construction crews will replace some drainage pipe between the off-ramp and Rinaldi Street, “backfilling the site with soil and restoring the affected portions of Rinaldi Street to previous conditions,” says Caltrans.
One warning to motorists in the area: expect intermittent overnight closures of the Reseda Boulevard off-ramp so that crews can move equipment to and from the work site. The closures are allowed overnight, no sooner than 11 p.m. on any day of the week, reopening no later than 6 a.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. on weekends. During overnight closures, Caltrans advises motorists use the Balboa Boulevard or Tampa Avenue exits.
