Now this is traffic hell

The Times Amanda Covarrubias talks to those motorists stranded for hours when the CHP closed the Grapevine because of heavy snow:

“We just had to park there and sleep,” said trucker Ted Dale, who found himself snowed in Wednesday night around the ghost town of Gorman. He was heading from Los Angeles to Seattle with a load of pineapples when he was ordered by the CHP Wednesday night to stop his eighteen-wheeler on the freeway. “There was no place to turn around.” About 30 passengers on a Greyhound bus heading from Southern California to Sacramento were forced to sleep on the vehicle overnight parked in the middle of the freeway. They were still stranded in Gorman 24 hours later because their driver had reached his limit on the number of hours he was allowed to operate the vehicle, and no fresh drivers could reach them to take over, the passengers said. “This is worse than jail,” said passenger Ilario Cazarez, a dance promoter from Los Angeles who was trying to make his way to Portland. Roughly 70,000 motorists travel through the Grapevine section of the Tejon Pass north of Los Angeles each day. Closure of the serpentine route caused major traffic headaches, as it is the state’s major north-south artery.

Photos LAT

Comments

[LA_commuter]

You can get free personalized traffic reports through your phone for LA via
http://traffic.calit2.net/la or by calling the toll free number (888) 922-5482
I use it all the time.

[Vic Arpeggio]

Dyno1,

As someone from Toledo (where it was FOUR degrees on January 2), I have to laugh when I hear Fritz Coleman or some other forecaster announce "Weather Crisis!" when it's drizzling outside. As for Grapevine snow, don't they have a solitary plow (and some rock salt) they can use? That being said, being stuck up there would SUCK. Good luck and godspeed to you travelers.

[Jim]

I lived in SoCal all my life, but recently moved to Raleigh, NC. The weather here is actually *very* mild - a lot more so than I'd expected, however, they do get 4 distinct seasons, and it does get colder than CA. Ice or snow is rare, though they do have the occassional "cold spell" where it can get down to the 20's (though it never gets much colder than this). If they happen to have any kind of rain or loisture that would cause what they call "black ice", schools are closed and most people just *stay home*. If they get snow, it shuts the entire city down! It works because this is accepted by EVERYONE who lives here.

When I asked about this...vs. places in the North where it snows all winter long, everyone told me that they just don't have the *Equipment* to take care of ice or snow on the roads here. It happens SO infrequently that it's just not worth their buying the equipment, so when it happens, everyone just stays home. Your boss would never say "Hey, wimp from California, why aren't you at work?" He will be home too.

One day, when it was clear as a bell but had rained the previous day and was freezing that morning, school and work was postponed until it warmed up in the afternoon. I went to work because it was sunny and I didn't know better and there were SO many accidents. The city would just rather everyone stay home. It's not worth it.

Since CA has this kind of cold even more infrequently than NC, I am certain they close the roads down because they simply do NOT have the equipment for this kind of weather. It sure is pretty though, isn't it??

[dyno1]

Not sure why the CHP is always closing the freeway when it snows. This would be absurd anywhere but California. I'm from Cleveland originally and i can not ever remember them closing the freeway. Even in a blizzard.

[Jason Hoppe]

That traffic is hell? You should try driving through the 6 feet of snow near mammoth lakes as I did a few weeks ago. AND WITHOUT CHAINS!