Freeways Los Angeles County

The most dangerous mile on the most dangerous freeway in the most dangerous county for truck accidents in California begins here. Hulking big rigs from the Long Beach Freeway, the state's busiest truck route, begin the hazardous task of merging into the fast lane of the northbound Santa Ana Freeway using a connector road that officials say has been obsolete since the 1960s.

Officials broke ground on what will be Los Angeles County's first freeway toll lanes, taking a gamble that drivers will be willing to pay significant sums to avoid rush-hour traffic. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other officials on Wednesday hailed the project as a major improvement to L.A.'s clogged freeway system. Officials plan to convert a total of 25 miles of existing carpool lanes on the 10 and 110 freeways into high-occupancy toll lanes. Carpools and buses will be able to use the lanes for free, while solo drivers will pay up to $1.40 a mile during peak rush-hour traffic.

A new weapon against graffiti has been added to the standard arsenal of sandblasters and paint brushes--barbed wire. Under a pilot project by Caltrans, about 50 large freeway signs have been cleaned of graffiti and ringed with barbed wire and razor wire, a flatter, knife-sharp version of barbed wire. The wire is being wrapped around freeway sign poles and woven through catwalks in an effort to discourage graffiti vandals. So far, transportation officials said, it seems to be working.

You don't so much drive north on the Glendale Freeway as you are borne away upon it. Up and out of the urban crawl, between the shoulders of Silver Lake, toward the bristling brown Verdugo Hills. Topped with the cross-bearing fortress of Forest Lawn, the hills of southern Glendale rise, layered with roofs and walls and two-car garages. Signs mark the approaching 134, and for a few moments the freeway slices between Glendale and Eagle Rock, ducking under the concrete swoops of the overpass.

Environmentalists and developers in Santa Clarita are once again battling it out, this time about whose interests will be paved over by an eight-lane expressway connecting the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways. California 126, a nine-mile, limited-access highway, is proposed by the California Department of Transportation to alleviate traffic congestion projected over the next 20 years in the fast-growing Santa Clarita Valley.

In the immediate aftermath of the Northridge earthquake, the chief bridge engineer of Caltrans would blame an unmapped fault for the violent shaking that brought down key links in the area's freeway network. Engineer James E. Roberts would say later that he based that assessment on early information from seismologists who were studying where the earth moved before dawn on Jan. 17.

The northbound lanes of the San Gabriel River Freeway were closed most of Tuesday as crews worked to clean up an oil spill. A California Highway Patrol spokeswoman said it took until the evening to finish the cleanup and make the freeway safe for travel. The road closure is the result of a Monday morning accident in which a tanker and a moving van collided near Telegraph Road, said CHP spokeswoman Shirley Gaines.

Caltrans officials said the westbound connector road between the Foothill and Golden State freeways will be closed for two consecutive nights to allow construction work on the road. Work crews will replace concrete along the roadway today and close the road from 8 p.m. until 9 a.m. Saturday morning, according to a statement issued by the agency. The road also will be closed for work Saturday night through Sunday morning during the same time period.

Work got under way this week on a $7.9-million project to add a car-pool lane in each direction on a seven-mile stretch of the San Diego Freeway, from the Harbor Freeway near Torrance to 120th Street near Hawthorne. The California Department of Transportation plans to add so-called high occupancy vehicle, or HOV, lanes to virtually every freeway in the Los Angeles area, said District 7 Director Jerry B. Baxter.

A Garden Grove man was shot while driving on the Artesia Freeway, officials said Friday. Robert Jeffrey Teeters, 30, was struck Thursday night by bullets that pierced his jaw and chest, said Ron Yukelson, a spokesman at Long Beach Memorial Hospital. He was listed in fair condition Friday. Police Lt. Gary Whinery said Teeters was heading east on the freeway in Long Beach about 10:50 p.m. when his car windows were shattered by gunfire.

The most dangerous mile on the most dangerous freeway in the most dangerous county for truck accidents in California begins here. Hulking big rigs from the Long Beach Freeway, the state's busiest truck route, begin the hazardous task of merging into the fast lane of the northbound Santa Ana Freeway using a connector road that officials say has been obsolete since the 1960s.

Several gallons of nitric acid spilled from a 200-gallon tank at a Carson metal plating company Thursday, emitting a yellowish cloud above the factory, temporarily shutting down the Harbor Freeway and causing evacuations for a quarter-mile around the plant, officials said. At approximately 8 a.m.

The northbound lanes of the San Gabriel River Freeway were closed most of Tuesday as crews worked to clean up an oil spill. A California Highway Patrol spokeswoman said it took until the evening to finish the cleanup and make the freeway safe for travel. The road closure is the result of a Monday morning accident in which a tanker and a moving van collided near Telegraph Road, said CHP spokeswoman Shirley Gaines.

Westbound lanes of the Ventura Freeway were closed for about three hours Saturday afternoon after a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer suffered a broken leg when struck by flying debris and officers investigated whether he had been shot, authorities said. Officer Richard Matthews of the CHP West Valley station underwent surgery Saturday evening at the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reports a gory and inglorious rise in highway violence. No kidding, Sherlock. And certainly no surprise to Southern Californians long resigned to freeway bashings by tire irons, jack handles, Perrier bottles, tossed rocks, eggs, pepper sprays, Bowie knives, deliberately directed Range Rovers, throat clearings, overripe avocados and occasional hosings from an AK47.

Caltrans officials said the westbound connector road between the Foothill and Golden State freeways will be closed for two consecutive nights to allow construction work on the road. Work crews will replace concrete along the roadway today and close the road from 8 p.m. until 9 a.m. Saturday morning, according to a statement issued by the agency. The road also will be closed for work Saturday night through Sunday morning during the same time period.

A wrong-way suspected drunk driver who critically injured a San Pedro mother and two young children on the Artesia Freeway in Cerritos when he slammed head-on into their car last week died Thursday of his injuries. Sung Wan Choi, 36, had been unconscious and in critical condition at Long Beach Memorial Hospital since the April 11 crash. Witnesses reported that Choi drove his van at up to 90 m.p.h for nearly eight miles as he traveled eastbound in the westbound lanes of the 91 Freeway.

All lanes of the Long Beach Freeway will be closed between the San Diego Freeway and the Del Amo Boulevard exit between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. Saturday while the Los Angeles County sheriff's bomb squad removes highly explosive chemicals from a nearby self-storage facility. The connectors from the San Diego Freeway to the northbound Long Beach Freeway will also be closed. The closures could extend to the same hours on Sunday if toxic experts are not able to complete their work, officials said.

Traffic restrictions will be in effect until 2 p.m. today on segments of the Golden State, Antelope Valley and Foothill freeways to allow for quake-related demolition and repair work, Caltrans officials said Saturday. Northbound and southbound traffic on The Old Road detour will be restricted to a single lane along the Golden State-Antelope Valley freeway interchange.