Snow, Ice Close Stretch Of I-5
Grapevine Shutdown Monday Evening
POSTED: 8:36 am PST December 8, 2009
UPDATED: 11:21 am PST December 8, 2009
LOS ANGELES -- State Highway 101 commuters are sharing the road with a lot of big-rigs because of the snow-and-ice shutdown of a portion of Interstate 5, the main freeway connecting Northern and Southern California.
The 30-mile stretch over the Grapevine in the Tehachapi Mountains has been closed in both directions since Monday night. Snow plows are now working to get I-5 open.
The California Highway Patrol is escorting traffic over State Route 58 between Bakersfield and Mojave. It was closed because of ice, leaving Highway 101 the only route between northern and southern portions of the state.
The storm has moved east, leaving Southern California with freezing temperatures Tuesday. Lower temperatures include 25 degrees in San Pedro and Acton, 30 in Palmdale, 32 in Claremont and 36 in Fullerton and Burbank.