Closed until Tuesday...

...That's the latest word from the CHP on Interstate 5. Here are the latest detours:

— Northbound from Los Angeles to Bakersfield, Sacramento: Take northbound I-5 to State Route 14, continue north to State Route 58 in Mojave and head west to State Route 99.

— Southbound to Los Angeles from Sacramento, Bakersfield: Take southbound I-5 to State Route 126, continue west to State Route 101 and head south.

— Eastbound State Route 126 to the Palmdale-Lancaster area: Take northbound I-5 to State Route 138, continue east. Another route is eastbound on State Route 126, which becomes Newhall Ranch Road, continue east to Bouquet Canyon Road and then turn west. Continue westbound to Soledad Canyon Road, turn left and continue eastbound to State Route 14.

Getting around the 5 closure

It's still unclear how long the I-5 closure will last. Engineers are trying to determine whether the truck fire caused structural damage to the tunnel. Above is the official detour. Also consider these two point from Caltrans and the CHP:

1) Caltrans is setting up long-term closures on on-ramps to the southbound Golden State (5) Freeway at Valencia Parkway. McBean Parkway and Lyons Avenue in Santa Clarita, the three on-ramps before the entire freeway is closed at Calgrove Boulevard. These closures are to prevent cars from entering the heavy backup.

2) California Highway Patrol officers in Ventura are reporting that trucks detouring around the 5 freeway closure are being erroneously advised by radio reports to take route 126 west to route 23 as a detour. Route 23, Grimes Canyon Road, is a steep and twisting narrow road, and trucks are getting stuck on it, Ventura CHP officers are saying. CHP officers are asking reporters to advise detouring traffic to use route 126 west all the way to U.S. 101 in Ventura, then turn south to Los Angeles there.

So, how long could the 5 be closed? It's unclear -- because the damage is still not fully determined. According to the Daily News, "a KNX radio reporter at the scene said concrete was still violently shattering in the tunnel walls and ceilings at mid-morning, as the red-hot structural steel in the tunnel walls expands and causes concrete to shatter and fall."

The tunnel's structure is compromised, that would mean 10 of the 12 lanes on Interstate 5 could be closed for sometime. The two-lane northbound truck ramp would be the only unaffected structure in the pass, along with a two- lane frontage road.

How bad is it out there? Consider this comment from reader Stacy:

FRIDAY NIGHT WAS A NIGHTMARE... MY FAMILY AND I  WERE COMING HOME FROM ANAHEIM AND MET UP WITH THIS INTERSTATE 5 TRAFFIC AROUND 12:15a.m. WE WERE  WORRIED IN A WAY FOR WHAT HAD HAPPENED BEING THAT IT WAS SO CLOSE TO HOME... WE STARTED TO GET UPSET THAT WE WERE IN SUCH A COMPLETE STOP IN THE FREEWAY...AND SO LIKE MANY PEOPLE WE JUST TURNED OFF THE CAR AND JUST WAITED... FOR FIVE HOURS!!

Fire, wreckage on the I-5

Interstate 5 is closed in both directions at the 14 after a major crash involving numerous big-rig trucks. The route could be closed all day:

Fire Inspector Jason Hurd said the accident -- the wreckage of which stretched for half a mile -- began when two trucks collided late Friday and started a chain reaction in Interstate 5's southbound truck-only tunnels that run under the regular freeway near the intersection with the Antelope Valley Freeway. Twenty people evacuated the fiery tunnel on foot, and the 10 injured were carried out. One truck driver was unaccounted for, and authorities worried that more may be missing. (AP)

KABC-TV Channel 7 reports that fire officials still are not sure whether others may be trapped in the tunnel (there is also some fear that the fire made it structurally unsound). KABC has this picture on its website:

KNBC-TV Channel 4 is reporting that there is a major backup on the 5 in both directions and that the Old Road isn't much better. KNBC suggested a route involving the 118 to the 33 to the 126.

Officials say the rain might have been a factor in the accident. Rain fell -- heavy in spots -- overnight and caused several accidents as well as this mishap that has hampered rail service:

Metro Gold Line service will be affected today as crews remove spilled fuel and a tractor-trailer truck that crashed and landed on the train tracks in Pasadena, authorities said. Metro spokesman Marc Littman said that the truck that crashed onto the tracks was removed but that the force bent the rail of the track and would probably take until 3 p.m. to repair. Littman said the line was delayed and riders between the Allen and Sierra Madre Villa stations were bused until the truck and spilled fuel were cleared. (CNS)

Street racing gets more dangerous

The Times' Sharon Bernstein and Tami Abdollah report that street racing is taking on a dangerous new form:

All told, according to state figures, nearly 100 people die each year in California as a result of illegal street racing. Detectives said they are increasingly seeing a particularly dangerous form of racing, called "cutting the gap" -- impromptu speed contests in which racers weave in and out of traffic.  "It's a game of chicken -- like a real-life video game," said Det. David Millan of the Los Angeles Police Department. "They are driving souped up vehicles where their skills don't match the cars." .... The change is apparent in the San Fernando Valley, which has long been attractive to racers because of its wide streets and long straightaways. For years, groups regularly planned midnight races for Tuesdays and Sundays. But as police have tried to crack down on the organized races, they are seeing a more dangerous form, with two and sometimes more racers deciding on daytime races in which fighting the congested streets is part of the thrill. "We are seeing more incidents in which young people pull up to each other at a light, rev the engines and engage in impromptu games of chicken at high speed," Millan said.

Six years for two deaths

Remember this horrible DUI case? Well, the man who slammed into a noted director and his son will spend six years in prison:

A man whose blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit when his SUV slammed into a car on Pacific Coast Highway, killing film director Robert Clark and his son, has been sentenced to six years in state prison. Hector Manuel Velazquez-Nava, 25, begged for forgiveness before he was sentenced. Clark directed the holiday classic film "A Christmas Story." (CNS)

More work, more backups on the 60

Heads-up on this major closure in the San Gabriel Valley for much of the next week:

Portions of the Pomona (60) Freeway between the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway and the Orange (57) Freeway will be closed next week for lane construction and pavement replacement, Caltrans announced. All eastbound and westbound lanes between 7th Avenue and Hacienda Boulevard will be closed from 2-7 a.m. Sunday. Eastbound lanes between the San Gabriel River Freeway and 7th Avenue will be closed from 11:30 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday. Also on the eastbound Pomona Freeway, on- and off-ramps at Crossroads Parkway, 7th Avenue, Hacienda Boulevard, Azusa Avenue and Fullerton Road will be closed from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., and up to four lanes from the San Gabriel River Freeway to Fullerton Road will be closed from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday. (CNS)

More left-turn signals coming

The The mayor says more left-turn signals are coming to L.A. -- within the next 30 days. Check out the list of intersections by clicking below (mostly in the Valley and LAX area):

Drivers tired of getting stuck in the middle of an intersection as they attempt to make a turn can expect some relief as the city installs 30 left-turn arrows over several weeks, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced today. The 30/30 Initiative is one of several projects intended to relieve traffic congestion and "reinvigorate" the city Department of Transportation, the mayor said at a morning news conference. Two weeks ago, the mayor fired LADOT General Manager Gloria Jeff and replaced her with longtime City Hall employee Rita Robinson. Jeff is appealing her termination to the Los Angeles City Council. The initiatives, which include plans for more one-way streets and reversible lanes, will "redouble (our) focus on reducing traffic congestion in Los Angeles and reinvigorate the hard-working men and women of the department," Villaraigosa said. (CNS)

Here are the intersections:

MTA's live chat

Here's a new way to communicate with commuters (it will be interesting to see how angry these emails are):

Metro Board Chair Pam O’Connor invites the public to comment on the agency’s traffic-busting plans for Los Angeles County and share ideas for staving off gridlock in Metro’s first Live Chat Internet forum scheduled during the noon hour on Wednesday, Oct. 17. Go to metro.net/chat and post questions and comments live or in advance. There also will be a link on the home page of metro.net. O’Connor, a Santa Monica City Council member and other Metro executives will host monthly lunch-hour chats live at metro.net. Topics will vary and will be posted in advance on Metro.net.

NBC and that MTA land

NBC wants to move to Universal City, according to The Times' Meg James. On the surface, it seems like smart growth: "The company intends to relocate the network and local news operations from Burbank to a new headquarters in a massive complex planned a couple of miles away on Lankershim Boulevard, across the street from Universal Studios. A Red Line subway station and a sprawling parking lot now occupy the proposed site next to the 101 Freeway. The subway stop will remain and be part of the new complex."

But there are concerns about traffic. "It's too big," said County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who is also a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. "This project has a long way to go. This is their opening salvo, but it's not a fait accompli as far as I'm concerned. Traffic and the scale of the project are going to be my concerns."

Carpool lane pain

Officials said they were going to start a crackdown on carpool lane cheaters as a way of reducing congestion in those lanes. Now here it comes:

Eighty-five motorists were issued tickets for carpool lane violations by a special enforcement task force of the California Highway Patrol on the Harbor (110) Freeway, it was announced today. Five motorcycle officers and a patrol car cruised the freeway Friday between Exposition and Century boulevards, said CHP Officer Alex Delgadillo of the agency’s Central Los Angeles Area. The task force concentrated on two categories of carpool lane violations, an official explained. One was to make sure that there were at least two people in a vehicle. The other was to make sure that vehicles did not try to get into the carpool lane over double yellow lines. "It is only legal to get into the carpool lanes where there is a broken white line," he explained. "Generally motorists in the carpool lane are going faster than those not in the carpool lanes," he said. "The motorists in the carpool lane are not expecting vehicles merging into the carpool lane with no warning," he said. (CNS)