Gridlocked.

Who better to make use of a seemingly inaccessible plot of land between an offramp and the freeway than the California Department of Transportation and the California Highway Patrol?

That's who will occupy a complex nestled on a scrap of land flanked by the eastbound Ventura (134) Freeway at the Glendale (2) Freeway.

The 89,000-square-foot, $46 million steel structure, slated to be completed this summer, will house a 234-person CHP communications center and a 122-person Caltrans traffic management center controlling ramp meters, overhead programmable message signs and traffic cameras in Los Angeles and Venture counties.

It is not unusual for Caltrans to build on such hard-to-reach sites, "because it saves taxpayer money," said Deborah Harris, a Caltrans spokeswoman.

Besides, said Bill Boyd, a senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis Co., such properties are not commercially viable anyway.

"A commercial building would not be built in that location due to the lack of amenities," he said. "Although freeway access might be spectacular."