605 Detours Aren't Going Away. Whittier Wants More Influence Over What Happens Next
Anyone who drives the 605 knows how freeway construction can spill onto city streets. Whittier wants a seat at the table when those decisions get made.
Anyone who drives the 605 knows how freeway construction can spill onto city streets — slower signals, detours, cut-through traffic on neighborhood roads. Whittier wants a seat at the table when those decisions get made.
The Whittier City Council on Tuesday authorized city staff to submit a letter of interest to join the I-5 Consortium Cities Joint Powers Authority, a coalition of cities that collectively negotiates with agencies like Caltrans, the Federal Highway Administration, and LA Metro on freeway corridor projects.
The JPA is expanding to include cities north of the I-5/605 interchange — where Whittier sits — giving the city a formal voice in regional conversations about how freeway work affects local streets. No financial commitment is involved yet. Any formal decision to join, including reviewing membership costs and the joint powers agreement, would come back to the council for a future vote.
The construction residents are seeing on the 605 right now is actually a separate project — but it illustrates exactly why Whittier wants in. Caltrans is in the middle of a $298 million rehabilitation of the entire freeway from Long Beach to the San Gabriel Valley, a project they're calling the Super 605.
The segment closest to Whittier, running from Telegraph Road in Santa Fe Springs to the 10 freeway, started construction in spring 2024 and isn't expected to wrap until early 2030. That stretch alone has 78 extended weekend closures scheduled.
