Golden Gate Freeway

A motor home caught fire Saturday afternoon on the Golden State Freeway north of Castaic, setting nearby brush ablaze and charring five acres, Los Angeles County fire officials said. Firefighters spent an hour and a half battling the fire, which broke out about 2:30 p.m. near the freeway and Templin Highway, county fire spokesman Art Marrujo said. No buildings were damaged in the blaze and no homes were evacuated, Marrujo said.

A motor home caught fire Saturday afternoon on the Golden State Freeway north of Castaic, setting nearby brush ablaze and charring five acres, Los Angeles County fire officials said. Firefighters spent an hour and a half battling the fire, which broke out about 2:30 p.m. near the freeway and Templin Highway, county fire spokesman Art Marrujo said. No buildings were damaged in the blaze and no homes were evacuated, Marrujo said.

A Los Angeles man was killed instantly Tuesday after a tire on his semi-trailer truck blew out and the truck skidded across the Golden Gate freeway in Pacoima and slammed into a bridge abutment, authorities said. Francisco Romo, 39, was decapitated when his truck struck the abutment just south of the Hollywood Freeway shortly after 4 p.m., California Highway Patrol Dispatcher Dottie Rice said.

Two men died and a woman and a teenage boy were critically injured early Monday when their car veered off a freeway ramp and fell 50 feet to the street below, authorities said. The car was traveling from the northbound Golden Gate Freeway to the eastbound Ronald Reagan Freeway at 4:50 a.m. when it swerved, authorities said. It landed on its roof near Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Paxton Street.

Two men died and a woman and a teenage boy were critically injured early Monday in Pacoima when their car veered off a freeway ramp and crashed onto the street 50 feet below, authorities said. The accident occurred at 4:50 a.m. when the car, a Honda Civic, was making the transition from the northbound Golden Gate Freeway to the eastbound Ronald Reagan Freeway and swerved into a four-foot concrete wall on the left side of the transition road, authorities said.

Residents of Castaic want their community to become more than just another truck stop along the Golden Gate Freeway, and on Thursday they took a step in that direction by defeating a proposed 24-hour gasoline station and mini-mart. Although the area is primarily known for its string of gas stations and fast-food restaurants, inflated land prices have pushed urban sprawl toward the Santa Clarita Valley community 39 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

With a million square feet of new office space and more construction planned, Glendale is spending $12 million to untangle rush-hour snarls on downtown streets, city official say. After more than six years of study, the city is proposing a comprehensive traffic-reduction plan that will include widening roads, computerizing traffic signals, encouraging employers to stagger work hours, offering enticements for more car-pooling and more use of public transportation and bicycles.

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