By City News Service
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The two right lanes of the northbound Golden State (5) Freeway near Dodger Stadium were reopened this afternoon, more than two days after a fire sparked by the crash of a tanker closed down most of the freeway.
The lanes were reopened shortly before 5 p.m., according to Caltrans. Two northbound and two southbound lanes remain closed.
The remaining closed lanes are expected to be reopened on Tuesday, with two more lanes reopened on the northbound side early in the morning with the remaining two lanes on the southbound side reopened at noon.
The fire was reported at 10:31 a.m. Saturday when a tanker truck overturned in a small tunnel connecting the northbound Glendale (2) Freeway to the Golden State Freeway, spilling about 8,500 gallons of gasoline, damaging the roadway and sending up columns of black smoke visible for miles, authorities said.
Over the weekend, crews cleared debris from the tunnel, shored up compromised stretches of roadbed and began work removing the gasoline that flowed into storm drains and the Los Angeles River.
Contractors were called in to install emergency shoring in two tunnels under the freeway. Those braces will block two transition ramps from the Glendale Freeway to the Golden State Freeway "for some weeks to come,'' Patrick Chandler of Caltrans said.
"Caltrans structural, design, maintenance and construction engineers have instructed the contractor to construct a temporary system to support the structures which hold the lanes of northbound and southbound 5,'' Chandler said.
The heat from Saturday's tanker fire caused "extensive damage to the pavement, walls, support columns, drainage, and lighting within the tunnel,'' Chandler said.
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