60 Freeway Will Be Closed Until At Least Friday After Tanker Truck Inferno
UPDATE: 9:30 p.m. Thursday (Workers pulling down the Paramount Boulevard bridge have discovered an AT&T land line. Cutting it would cause a disruption in service to countless AT&T customers so Caltrans is working with AT&T to figure out how to proceed. The 60 Freeway, as a result, will likely not reopen by Friday as hoped.)
MONTEBELLO (CBS) — Commuters are still experiencing freeway gridlock after Wednesday afternoon's tanker truck inferno on the eastbound 60 Freeway.
Thousands of motorists were stranded for hours Wednesday night, with delays continuing into the Thursday morning commute.
The California Highway Patrol says most of the 10-mile stretch of the road will remain closed until at least Friday as Caltrans engineers investigate whether the structural safety of the Paramount Boulevard bridge above the freeway was compromised.
Caltrans is planning on demolishing the freeway over pass Thursday. By Thursday afternoon, Caltrans reported that some traffic was being allowed onto a portion of closed stretch of the 60 Freeway, as follows:
-- eastbound traffic can enter the freeway at four onramps that are east of Paramount Boulevard: San Gabriel Boulevard, Rosemead Boulevard, Santa Anita Avenue and Durfee Avenue; and
-- westbound traffic can enter the freeway at two onramps that are west of Paramount Boulevard: Garfield Avenue and Atlantic Boulevard.
Authorities urged motorists to map out alternate routes or use public transit.
Officials are hoping to have the entire freeway reopened by late Friday night.
Drivers are being urged to use alternate routes, including the 210, 10 and 91 freeways, which run parallel to the 60.
A CBS2 investigation revealed that Cool Transports, the Colton-based company that owns the tanker, reported a single injury accident over the last two years.
Another one of its trucks was involved in a crash that required it to be towed away, but those were the only two crashes reported to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
