Southern California commuters were forced to seek alternative driving routes Monday after a storage yard fire damaged a mile-long downtown section of the Interstate 10 Freeway on Sunday, leading to an indefinite closure of the highway.
In a Sunday news conference, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that close to 100 columns supporting the 10 Freeway near Alameda Street were impacted by the fire. He also declared a state of emergency to expedite the freeway repair and clean-up process. According to Newsom, around 300,000 vehicles typically drive on the interstate daily and the state will ensure that the structure can support that level of traffic in the repair process.
A preliminary investigation determined that the fire was started with “malice intent,” Newsom announced Monday afternoon.
A city-wide alert was sent out via wireless emergency alert notifying drivers of the closure around 10:30 p.m. Sunday night. The alert advised Angelenos to “plan alternative routes and expect significant traffic.”
The fire, which spanned 8 acres according to the Associated Press, burned for over three hours, blackening and chipping the columns, deck, and guardrail of the affected section. No injuries have been reported but at least 16 unhoused individuals were evacuated from the scene, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in the same news conference.
The Los Angeles City Fire Department responded to a “rubbish fire” between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. Sunday in a storage yard under the freeway, as reported by CBS. Pallets, trailers, and vehicles were engulfed in flames. Gusts of wind blew the fire across the street to another storage yard where buildings also caught fire.
The Department of Transportation (Caltrans) recommended that commuters work from home or take advantage of public transportation while the area is closed. Los Angeles Metro announced on Sunday that it plans to tailor its public transportation options to combat the closure.
I-10 remains FULLY CLOSED until further notice between the East LA interchange & Alameda St due to a fire that damaged the fwy. Avoid the area, expect major delays & seek alternate routes to events in #DTLA or use @metrolosangeles public transit. See detour for WB. & EB I-10 👇 pic.twitter.com/oBduHIFTXY
— Caltrans District 7 (@CaltransDist7) November 12, 2023
Alma Reyes, an Annenberg Cafe employee who commutes to her USC job from Whittier, said her routine was heavily impacted by the I-10 shutdown.
“I usually take the 5 to the 10 (freeways) so it directly affected me,” she said in Spanish.
Reyes, whose commute normally takes a little over an hour, was stuck in traffic for over two hours Monday morning.
“I’ll have to leave even earlier tomorrow, but it’s difficult,” Reyes said. “I drop off my daughter at school right before coming. I already have my routine down.”
Annenberg Media approached five commuter students individually to talk about their traffic experiences on Monday. All five could not talk as they said they were running late for classes.
“We know the impact that this fire will have on the surrounding communities, as people need to drive to work, school, and other activities,” Bass said.
A Caltrans news conference on the I-10 freeway closure was held at 10 a.m. on Monday to discuss repair plans. Tony Tavares, the director of Caltrans, said that he recognizes the impact and the loss of this section of the freeway.
“My teams will be working around the clock to get this reopened as quickly as possible and as safely as possible.”
Toks Omishakin, a Secretary of Transportation for the state of California, told reporters that Caltrans already has two contractors on board and one has already begun work on the damaged freeway section.
Randall Winston, the deputy mayor of infrastructure for Los Angeles, also spoke on efforts to repair the freeway.
“What the mayor wants to make sure that everyone understands is that we are acting urgently and we will not stop until the freeway is up and running again,” Winston said.
Caltrans will be holding news conferences at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day indefinitely, according to Omishakin. For now, there is no estimated reopening date for the freeway.