Anaheim’s biggest entertainment hotspots,Disneyland, California Adventure, Edison International Field, the Pond and the Anaheim Convention Center,are getting their own ramps on and off the Santa Ana (5) Freeway beginning this week.
It’s part of the $1.1 billion freeway improvement project to widen a 9.5 mile stretch of the I-5 between the Orange (57) and the Riverside (91) freeways. Other portions are expected to be completed within the next few months. The freeway handles 190,000 cars daily. With the improvements, it’s expected to handle 350,000 vehicles.
The ramps exit to Gene Autry Way, which leads to Edison Field and the Anaheim Pond, and Disney Way, which goes to Disneyland, California Adventure and the Anaheim Convention Center. Disney officials were closely involved in planning the off-ramps, said an Anaheim official.
FCI Constructors LLP, Kajima Engineering and Construction Inc., CC Myers Inc., and MCM Construction did the ramp work.
The construction firms have faced some problems in the widening project. Since they worked graveyard shifts in residential areas, they weren’t allowed to use pile drivers. Instead, they dug through 120 feet of sand to reach bedrock. The freeway had to be shut down on certain nights to knock down old overpasses. But the project was completed on time and within budget, said a Caltrans official.
Measure M, the half-cent sales tax passed in November of 1990, paid for about 75% of the project, while other funds came from federal, state and local funds.
