Officials Offer Tips to Avoid Nightmare Commute Today

Bracing for a nightmarish commute this morning due to the closure of the Hollywood Freeway near the Metro Rail tunnel fire scene, transportation officials Sunday urged motorists to avoid driving during rush hour, appealed to employers to stagger work shifts and suggested alternate routes to keep traffic moving.

The 1 1/2-mile section of the Hollywood Freeway (U.S. 101) shut down since Friday’s underground subway fire near downtown was expected to remain off-limits to traffic through this morning except, possibly, for two of five northbound lanes that might be opened to inbound traffic from the Santa Ana Freeway (Interstate 5).

Crews planned to work through the night in a last-ditch effort to reopen the two northbound lanes, or more specifically, the roadway’s shoulder and 1 1/2 lanes farthest to the right.

But Dave Roper, deputy district director of Caltrans, said he could not guarantee any part of the Hollywood Freeway would be opened, because the burned-out tunnel under that part of the roadway might not be adequately shored up by this morning.

To partially ease the traffic crush, Caltrans officials said they would allow commuters onto the inbound section of the El Monte busway that runs alongside the San Bernardino Freeway (Interstate 10), a route normally restricted to buses and car-poolers. Motorists will be able to merge onto and off the busway at normal car-pool access lanes, and the officials said they would try to squeeze two lanes of traffic onto one lane.

The busway, however, normally can handle only about 2,000 vehicles per hour, far less than the nearly 13,000 cars that would normally pass through the closed section of U.S. 101 during a typical hour of peak traffic, said Steve Leung, a local traffic systems chief for Caltrans.

Truckers were directed to use alternate routes in the area for at least the next several days.

People who choose to ride buses on the El Monte busway will be able to ride for free, a Southern California Rapid Transit District official said.

“We know (the busway) is going to be jampacked, but at least it will provide some kind of relief,” Leung said, adding that extra buses will be added to the route. “We realize it will not replace the freeway, not by a longshot, but every little bit helps.

Without the freeway, Leung said, “what people experienced Friday, they will experience Monday morning.”

Caltrans officials estimated that delays this morning could be as bad as Friday, when some motorists were stuck in their cars on jammed freeways all morning.

To avoid a repeat, Caltrans officials Sunday urged motorists to navigate their way into downtown Los Angeles by using surface streets.

Northbound commuters should start “peeling off” U.S. 101 at 7th, 4th, and Macy streets to head into the Central City, Roper said.

The closed stretch of freeway, a segment known as “the slot” between Mission Street and the four-level interchange, is a principal link into downtown, handling about 210,000 vehicles a day.

Motorists heading toward downtown from the south and west should use the Santa Monica and Harbor freeways, which officials expected would be able to handle a larger volume of cars than the normal rush-hour traffic flow.

Those coming from the north should use surface streets such as 3rd and 6th streets, as well as the Harbor Freeway, according to Roper and Edwin Rowe, general manager of the city Department of Transportation.

Commuters opting for surface streets also can expect slow-going, because those streets normally are near capacity. The tens of thousands of additional motorists trying to sidestep the freeway may bring traffic on streets leading into downtown to a near stop, Rowe said.

“The problem is there is not enough additional capacity to accommodate this traffic without very, very extensive delays,” he said. “We can mitigate the situation, but there will still be a lot of problems.”

The city will dispatch about 40 special traffic officers to key intersections to keep traffic flowing, Rowe said, adding that several hundred more will be on standby and deployed if needed.

Another team of city transportation officials will head to hot spots to close off roads and set up detours. A helicopter pilot will monitor traffic from above, and the city’s Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control System, or ATSAC, will be operational as early as 6 a.m.

ATSAC is an advanced computer system that monitors traffic conditions citywide and can change the timing on traffic lights on a minute’s notice to accommodate sudden changes, Rowe said. He said the system usually becomes operational about 7 a.m.

But the key to minimizing problems while the freeway remains closed, transportation officials said, is cooperation from motorists and employers in staying off the roads during rush hour.

“I’m talking about coming in at 5 a.m., or even 10 a.m.,” said Rowe. “The public has to recognize that if everyone tries to drive at their usual time, no matter where they go, it will overwhelm the surface street network.”

With the six-year-old ATSAC system and other contingency plans in place, city officials said they do not expect this morning’s commute to be the worst ever.

“Not by a longshot,” predicted Rowe, who recalled a rainstorm that paralyzed downtown Los Angeles in November, 1983, during the pre-Christmas holiday shopping season.

“Everything came to a halt, people abandoned their cars on the freeways and buses were hours behind schedule,” Rowe said. “This doesn’t come close to that.”

Hollywood Freeway Alternatives According to Caltrans, here are the best ways into the city due to problems on a 1.5 mile stretch of the Hollywood Freeway, from westbound 1-10 to the four-level interchange. Southbound on the Hollywood Freeway: Go north or south on the Harbor Freeway and take the downtown exits into the city. Westbound on the San Bernardino Freeway: Exit at Soto, State or Mission streets and head into the city on surface roads. Macy Street also is an alternate route onto surface arteries but is not recommended due to massive traffic jams that are expected. Northbound on the Hollywood Freeway: Take 1st, 4th or Macy Street exits. Westbound on the Pomona Freeway: Enter 101 north. Exit 1t, 4th, 7th or Macy streets, although Macy expected to be overcrowded. Westbound on the Santa Monica Freeway: Exit at Harbor Freeway or Grand, Los Angeles or Maple streets and head into the city on surface roads.