Freeway

Genta Negata, 24, of Glendale was struck and killed after he drove from his Glendale home onto the Foothill (210) Freeway, exited his vehicle and then ran into traffic. According to California Highway Patrol Officer Todd Workman, Negata, a 2002 graduate of Crescenta Valley High School, for some unknown reason drove a family member?s vehicle through his yard in the 1200 block of Shirley Jean Street in Glendale at 6 p.m. on Nov. 6. He knocked down two fences in the yard before driving onto surface streets.

A man who apparently jumped to his death Wednesday morning from an overpass of the Glendale (2) Freeway near Chevy Chase Canyon, snarling the morning commute, left a suicide note, police said. The Glendale man, whose identity had not been released Wednesday afternoon pending notification of his family, jumped before 6 a.m. from the northbound overpass, landing on to Chevy Chase Drive, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. A witness seated inside his parked car under the overpass heard screams just before seeing the man in his 30s fall, Lorenz said.

The northbound 5 Freeway at the 110 Freeway was closed Friday morning after a high-speed pursuit of suspected robbers led to a deadly crash, authorities said. Authorities are diverting traffic onto the 110 Freeway, said Officer Ed Jacobs of the California Highway Patrol. The incident began when police received a 1:46 a.m. call of a robbery at a 7-Eleven store off East 4th Street and South Cummings Street in which a suspect drew a knife, said Sgt. Peter Gamino of the Los Angeles Police Department.

I've been reading a lot about the proposed extension of the 710 Freeway to the 210, and everyone is concerned about pollution and traffic impact, but no one is talking about the crime element that it would bring into our cities. It is a well-known fact that criminals travel the freeways and target areas with easy access to the freeways for quick getaways. So why do we want that, in addition to all the other negatives, including that of having a tunnel freeway in earthquake country!

The bear that wandered over the 210 Freeway and into Montrose early Sunday morning has been tranquilized and is being taken back into the Angeles National Forest. The bear was sedated around 10:30 a.m. after it had been seen in the area of Florencita Lane and Montrose Drive. It had already been loaded into the back of a truck by 11 a.m. Officials were unsure if it was male or female. It did not harm any humans or damage any property. The animal was first sighted around 7:30 a.m., according to officials with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Traffic on eastbound lanes of the 134 Freeway in Glendale was brought to a brief halt following a crash on Tuesday afternoon. At 3:53 p.m., two cars collided near the Glendale Ave. exit ramp, according to the CHP. No injuries were reported. Eastbound traffic began to clear at 4:30 p.m.      

Firefighters from three agencies got the upper hand Tuesday on a one-acre brush fire in La Crescenta that closed two lanes of the 210 Freeway, authorities said. The fire, first reported at 12:55 p.m., burned roughly an acre next to the westbound lanes of the freeway before it was knocked down at 1:47 p.m., Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Quvondo Johnson. Firefighters from the Glendale, Los Angeles and Los Angeles County responded to the blaze, which  burned terrain east of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Originally, the connection of the Long Beach (710) Freeway to the Foothill (210) Freeway was considered a vital connection to reduce traffic in downtown Los Angeles. Interestingly, it still is a vital connection. As the population grew north of South Pasadena, the need to travel south to work intensified. Fremont Avenue, a main north-south street that goes through South Pasadena, and the Arroyo Seco (110) Parkway are the most viable means for traveling south. In the morning and afternoon, both routes resemble parking lots.

La Cañada Flintridge residents and leaders said that they were disappointed but not surprised by regional transportation planners' decision Thursday to keep alive the prospect of a tunnel from the Long Beach (710) Freeway to the Foothill (210) Freeway in Pasadena, even as they eliminated several other alternatives. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency “knows what they want to do, they're hell-bent on doing it,” said Jan SooHoo, a La Cañada resident and member of the No 710 Action Committee.

A woman died Saturday morning after her pickup truck shot about 50 feet off the northbound Golden State (5) Freeway into an area full of brush and trees near the Glendale-Los Angeles border. The fatal accident, which occurred about 9:30 a.m., jammed traffic for hours around the 5 and Ventura (134) freeways.  The woman's husband, who was also in the vehicle, survived the crash after the car spun out over the freeway's edge. He sustained minor injuries, Jacobs said, adding that neither their identities nor information about who was driving were available.

Dozens of firefighters were trying to get the upper hand on a brush fire in Glendale Friday afternoon as it threatened canyon homes and wrecked havoc on nearby freeways. Evacuation orders were issued for homes in the 500 block of Solway Street. Traffic into Chevy Chase Canyon was closed as water-dropping helicopters attacked from above. [Update: As of about 4:20 p.m., the fire had grown to 75 acres, according to the city. No injuries were reported as of 4:20 p.m. and no structures had been damaged.

Firefighters extinguished a one-acre grass fire near the Golden State (5) Freeway at the Ventura (134) Freeway interchange on Tuesday that briefly stopped traffic. Crews from four fire companies, including Glendale and Los Angeles, attacked the blaze, which was reported about 1:25 p.m., said Katherine Main, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman. The blaze was extinguished about 30 minutes later. The northbound 5 Freeway transition to the westbound 134 Freeway was briefly shut down as fire crews worked to extinguish the blaze, she said.

Glendale firefighters rescued a Palmdale man whose Saturn overturned Thursday morning into an embankment along the Glendale (2) Freeway at Mountain Street, officials said. The 37-year-old motorist, Edgar Herrera, was taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, where he was treated for a fractured left femur, said California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Denmon. Herrera also complained of pain to his chest and right wrist. Herrera was driving south in the fourth lane at about 6 a.m. on the Glendale (2)

A bill by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Sliver Lake) that would allow solo drivers to use carpool lanes during non-peak hours on the Ventura (134) Freeway in Glendale and Burbank has been amended to possibly include other local freeways. Gatto's bill, AB 405, passed its first hurdle Monday after it was approved by the Assembly Transportation Committee on a 15-1 vote. It was originally drafted to only apply to the section of the 134 Freeway, but was amended to include other roads in Los Angeles County that are deemed appropriate by the California Department of Transportation, including the Foothill (210)

A multi-billion dollar proposal for a 28-acre park covering parts of the Ventura (134) Freeway in Glendale won resounding support from the City Council on Tuesday. The concept, known as Space 134, could stretch across parts of the freeway from Central to Glendale avenues and include transit stops, neighborhood park areas, trails, exercise equipment, an electrical car charging station and other amenities. “It's certainly worth pursuing without question,” said Mayor Frank Quintero.

In what could be the mother of all park projects in Glendale, city officials tonight are slated to discuss capping a portion of the Ventura (134) Freeway for open space and other amenities. Called “Space 134,” the mega project would extend from Central to Glendale avenues and incorporate bike paths, trails among roughly 20 acres of open space within minutes of the most park-deficient area of the city. While only a concept, the City Council will be weighing in on the proposal as Glendale officials attempt to secure grant funding for a full Environmental Impact Report.

Glendale City Councilman Ara Najarian won the fight for what he said was his “future in local politics” Thursday, defeating a movement to unseat him from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority over his staunch opposition to a potential tunnel extending the Long Beach (710) Freeway. In December, representatives from 10 San Gabriel Valley cities voted against Najarian's confirmation, after members from the North Cities sector, which includes Glendale and Burbank, had nominated him for another four-year term on the MTA Board of Directors.

Opposition to a potential tunnel connecting the Long Beach (710) and Foothill (210) freeways rang loud and clear among the more than 125 Crescenta Valley residents who turned out for an outreach meeting Wednesday night. The forum - organized by the advocacy group No 710 Action Committee - came after cities like Pasadena, La Cañada Flintridge and South Pasadena pushed back against the tunnel option at a series of meetings hosted by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority in January.

All lanes of the northbound 5 Freeway at the 110 interchange have reopened following a deadly collision that left one person dead, authorities said Friday morning. At 7:54 a.m. the freeway reopened, said Officer Cheyenne Quesada with the California Highway Patrol. “It's moving right along just fine,” Quesada said. The northbound side of the freeway was closed Friday morning after a high-speed pursuit of suspected robbers led to the crash. The incident began when police received a 1:46 a.m. call about a robbery at a 7-Eleven store off East 4th Street and South Cummings Street in which a suspect drew a knife, said Sgt. Peter Gamino of the Los Angeles Police Department.