Century Freeway

The state Transportation Commission has approved contracts valued at $83.7 million to continue work on the Century Freeway (I-105) in the Southeast area. The money, approved recently during meetings in Sacramento, is for construction along the freeway corridor in Paramount, Compton and Lynwood, and on the Century Freeway interchange at the Long Beach Freeway (I-710).

A partially buried body was found Monday at a Century Freeway construction site in Hawthorne, authorities said. The body was discovered by construction workers at 7:50 a.m. Information about the age and sex of the body was not immediately available, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy George Ducoulombier. It was not known how long the body had been at the site near Hawthorne Boulevard, 15 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission has authorized the construction of a $150-million, three-mile southerly extension of the Century Freeway rail transit lines into El Segundo and Hawthorne. The route will go from Imperial Highway and Aviation Boulevard south to Rosecrans Avenue. There will be four stations, at Mariposa Avenue, El Segundo Boulevard, Douglas Street and Compton Boulevard.

The state Transportation Commission has approved final funding to complete the $1.6-billion Century Freeway, linking Norwalk with Los Angeles International Airport. During a recent meeting, the commission approved $1.1 billion for the remaining 53 projects along the 17.3-mile Century Freeway, which is scheduled to be completed by mid-1993. About 10% of the freeway has been completed.

The impact of the Century Freeway on local businesses will be discussed by Caltrans senior project engineer Marshall Young on June 16 at 7:30 a.m. in the Community Room at Hawthorne Plaza. Reservations are required by calling the Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce at 676-1163 by June 13. Young's talk will include the construction schedule for freeway detour routes, traffic circulation, light-rail construction and park-and-ride locations.

The infant Century Freeway apparently has passed its first tremor test with flying colors, Caltrans officials said. A preliminary inspection of the 3-month-old freeway found no stress cracks or other damage after Monday's magnitude 6.6 earthquake. The 105 Freeway has some of the county's highest overpasses. Caltrans engineers said they were not surprised that the 17.

The long struggle to replace homes torn down for the planned Century Freeway in South-Central Los Angeles cleared an important hurdle Wednesday with an agreement to allow local nonprofit groups to develop and administer $55 million worth of low-cost housing.

A legislative committee agreed Tuesday to spend $87,750 to investigate why Caltrans built a 3 1/2-mile stretch of the Century Freeway in Downey over underground water that has undermined the roadway. The investigation also will examine whether all options to fix the multimillion-dollar problem have been pursued. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted to have state Auditor Kurt R. Sjoberg evaluate the problems that have plagued the state's newest and most expensive freeway.

Three construction workers were seriously injured Monday when wood and steel scaffolding collapsed on them during an attempt to remove the support beams from a portion of the Century Freeway project just south of Los Angeles International Airport. Ruben Holguin was unconscious and on a life-support system at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center following the 2:15 p.m. accident, said officials at the Kasler Corp. of Highland, a firm handling construction at the site.

The infant Century Freeway apparently has passed its first tremor test with flying colors, Caltrans officials said. A preliminary inspection of the 3-month-old freeway found no stress cracks or other damage after Monday's magnitude 6.6 earthquake. The 105 Freeway has some of the county's highest overpasses. Caltrans engineers said they were not surprised that the 17.