Diamond Lane in the Sky

To untold thousands of rush-hour commuters who slow to a crawl each day past construction projects on the congested Harbor Freeway, relief is on the way. Slowly.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by late 1992 on the Harbor Transitway, a $55-million project to create a 2.6-mile-long double deck over the Harbor Freeway, from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard south to Slauson Avenue. The top deck will connect to a new 10-mile transitway reserved for buses, vans and cars with several passengers.

At present, workers are digging 80-foot-deep holes and constructing 50 Y-shaped towers to support a second High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) roadway for buses, vans and cars that will be 35 feet above the existing freeway.

The Harbor Freeway carries about 230,000 vehicles a day. Experts expect that by the year 2005 nearly 100,000 commuters will be riding buses and car-pool vehicles along the new route, easing congestion.

When the HOV diamond lane is completed, it will flow through a $135-million, one-of-a-kind traffic interchange between the Harbor and Century freeways. Top lanes will soar 120 feet in the air in a five-level maze.

The interchange will integrate a railroad station, a bus stop and a park-and-ride lot--all designed to combine three modes of transportation for the first time.