Several California lawmakers are questioning the efficacy of the state’s transportation agencies after a major interstate in Southern California was unexpectedly shut down three times in the last three months.California state Sen. Catherine Blakespear led an inquiry and wrote a letter Monday to the California Department of Transportation, the California Highway Patrol and the San Diego Police Department, questioning the three abrupt freeway closures on Interstate 5. The interstate is a major route connecting San Diego to Orange County and Los Angeles. Blakespear led the charge, along with seven other lawmakers.“When a major transportation artery is closed, it has profound negative rippling effects across our society. With that being the case, it’s crucial that we limit freeway closures as much as possible and we manage them thoughtfully, when they do occur,” lawmakers wrote in the letter.The first closure, on Oct. 18, lasted from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., when the interstate was closed for up to four hours for the 250th U.S. Marine Corps celebration, including a live-fire demonstration. The announcement came the morning of the event, when, 48 hours prior, the Marines said in a statement that the freeway would not be closed, and a Caltrans representative told SFGATE Caltrans had “cautioned against it.”The freeway has since closed twice more for police activity. On Nov. 22, Interstate 5 came to a halt from about 1:05 a.m. to 3:30 p.m during a police pursuit that began in Buena Park. Traffic on the southbound side was diverted while lanes on the northbound side slowly reopened. The freeway closed again on Dec. 5 for almost eight hours while police talked a man off a ledge on the Del Mar Heights Road overpass. Lawmakers said in the letter there was “little-to-no communication” during the incident.A spokesperson for the California State Transportation Agency, the office overseeing Caltrans, CHP and other transportation branches, told SFGATE in an email that CalSTA “coordinates with multijurisdictional partners to resolve the situation as quickly and as safely as possible while communicating to the public all appropriate and available information.” CalSTA added that it’s communicating with “the Senator.”SFGATE asked Toni Tinoco, CalSTA’s spokesperson, if the agency believed it had effectively communicated to the public during the three events, but did not receive a response by time of publication.Lawmakers requested in the Dec. 15 letter a “careful examination and explanation of existing policies, procedures and tools” to avoid future gridlocks. “Collectively, these incidents underscore the need for greater clarity about how freeway closures are managed, how decisions are made in real time to address the incident, how to expeditiously reopen freeway operations, and how public communications are handled,” lawmakers wrote.
Several California lawmakers are questioning the efficacy of the state’s transportation agencies after a major interstate in Southern California was unexpectedly shut down three times in the last three months.
California state Sen. Catherine Blakespear led an inquiry and wrote a letter Monday to the California Department of Transportation, the California Highway Patrol and the San Diego Police Department, questioning the three abrupt freeway closures on Interstate 5. The interstate is a major route connecting San Diego to Orange County and Los Angeles. Blakespear led the charge, along with seven other lawmakers.
“When a major transportation artery is closed, it has profound negative rippling effects across our society. With that being the case, it’s crucial that we limit freeway closures as much as possible and we manage them thoughtfully, when they do occur,” lawmakers wrote in the letter.
The first closure, on Oct. 18, lasted from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., when the interstate was closed for up to four hours for the 250th U.S. Marine Corps celebration, including a live-fire demonstration. The announcement came the morning of the event, when, 48 hours prior, the Marines said in a statement that the freeway would not be closed, and a Caltrans representative told SFGATE Caltrans had “cautioned against it.”
The freeway has since closed twice more for police activity. On Nov. 22, Interstate 5 came to a halt from about 1:05 a.m. to 3:30 p.m during a police pursuit that began in Buena Park. Traffic on the southbound side was diverted while lanes on the northbound side slowly reopened. The freeway closed again on Dec. 5 for almost eight hours while police talked a man off a ledge on the Del Mar Heights Road overpass. Lawmakers said in the letter there was “little-to-no communication” during the incident.
A spokesperson for the California State Transportation Agency, the office overseeing Caltrans, CHP and other transportation branches, told SFGATE in an email that CalSTA “coordinates with multijurisdictional partners to resolve the situation as quickly and as safely as possible while communicating to the public all appropriate and available information.” CalSTA added that it’s communicating with “the Senator.”
SFGATE asked Toni Tinoco, CalSTA’s spokesperson, if the agency believed it had effectively communicated to the public during the three events, but did not receive a response by time of publication.
Lawmakers requested in the Dec. 15 letter a “careful examination and explanation of existing policies, procedures and tools” to avoid future gridlocks.
“Collectively, these incidents underscore the need for greater clarity about how freeway closures are managed, how decisions are made in real time to address the incident, how to expeditiously reopen freeway operations, and how public communications are handled,” lawmakers wrote.