'Angelenos Against Gridlock' Protest 405 Widening Project Delays

It was bound to happen. You mess with LA freeways, you're going to hear from the Angelenos that live on them.

A group called Angelenos Against Gridlock planned a demonstration Saturday to protest the fact that the 405 freeway widening project is 13 months behind schedule.

"The 405 here is the third busiest freeway in the entire nation," the group's Facebook event page reads. "Huge delays impact a huge number of people."

The delays and added costs recently announced at an LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority construction meeting "will have an onerous effect on commuters, businesses and residents," David Murphy, the group's president, told the Los Angeles Times.

The $1 billion-plus freeway widening project is two-thirds completed, but Metro officials announced last week that final completion has been pushed back to mid-2014, Patch reports. They attributed the delays to challenges in relocating major utility lines and moving old Sepulveda Boulevard.

Debbie Nussbaum, who lives in what she refers to as "ground zero" of the freeway construction -- bordered by Sunset and Wilshire -- told KPCC that she understands that delays happen but it isn't easy.

“They work at night a lot, so anytime we go to a play, or a friend's house, or a class late at night, and you come home past 10 o'clock, Sepulveda's closed, freeway exits are closed," she said.

The protest was planed for 2 p.m. outside the Westwood Federal Building on Wilshire Boulevard. Murphy did not immediately respond to HuffPost for comment.