Transportation

Los Angeles Braces for Long Traffic Nightmare After Freeway Fire

  • Section of I-10 freeway closed indefinitely as damage assessed
  • System is vital for commuters, and cargo trucks from busy port

The Interstate 10 freeway a day after a large fire burned below, shutting the freeway to traffic, in Los Angeles, on Sunday, Nov. 12.

Photographer: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Arson was to blame for a blaze underneath a Los Angeles freeway, causing a traffic nightmare by indefinitely shutting down Interstate 10, an artery that carries 300,000 vehicles a day south of downtown in the second-largest US city.

“We know that the origin of this fire is arson,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at a news conference Monday.