The Old Ranch Parkway Freeway Onramp to Close Today for One Year

Commuters won't be able to take the Old Ranch Parkway onramp to the westbound Garden Grove Freeway (22) for one year, starting today.

The onramp will close at 5 a.m. today to prepare for the reconstruction of the Seventh Street Bridge. The work is part the Orange County Transportation Authority’s West County Connectors Project. Both Seventh Street and the Old Ranch Parkway on-ramp will be closed for about a year while the bridge is rebuilt.

The Old Ranch Parkway freeway entrance is frequently used as the short cut from central Seal Beach and Rossmoor to the College Park West neighborhood, California State University, Long Beach and the veterans’ hospital in Long Beach.

Until the Seventh Street exit is closed at the end of the month, drivers can still get on the northbound San Diego Freeway (405) at Seal Beach Boulevard to the westbound 22.

As part of the West County Connectors project, over the next three years, entire overpasses will be torn down and rebuilt, and freeway lanes and ramps will be intermittently closed.

The impact will have an enormous effect on commuters in the Long Beach, Seal Beach, Rossmoor, Los Alamitos and Garden Grove areas, along with anyone traveling the gateway between Los Angeles and Orange counties. It will also send drivers on detours along side streets in those cities.

For all the hassle of major freeway construction, commuters will be rewarded in 2014 with seamless carpool-lane transitions between the 22 and 405 and the 405 and the San Gabriel (605) freeways, along with additional carpool lanes on the 405.

Here's a link to the "Closure & Detour Notice" about the March 7 closure:  http://www.octa.net/pdf/Old_Ranch_Parkway_Closure_Notice_Mar_7.pdf