“Driving in, it was very clear that there’s a real traffic impact in the L.A. metro area,” one federal official says.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday, Nov. 13, again urged businesses to allow employees to work remotely, if practical, to avoid driving to or through downtown L.A. while part of the 10 Freeway remains shut down indefinitely following a massive fire over the weekend that caused significant damage.
State transportation officials pledged Monday that the California Department of Transportation would work “24/7” to reopen the damaged portion of the freeway as quickly as possible.
“This remains priority No. 1 for us in state government,” Toks Omishakin, the state’s secretary of transportation, said during a midday briefing with reporters.
Omishakin said Caltrans engineers had taken concrete and rebar samples from the site for analysis to determine the best course of action for reopening the bridge.
Shailen Bhatt, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, said during the briefing that he was keenly aware of the impact the freeway closure is having on a local, regional and national scale.
