Freeway

All lanes of 5 Freeway near Elysian Park are expected to be closed until at least 9 a.m. as the result of a big rig crash, officials said early Tuesday. At about 3:16 a.m., a driver lost control of a big rig, which hit the center divider and caught fire near the 2 Freeway, said Officer Ed Jacobs of the California Highway Patrol. No injuries were reported in the accident. Traffic was backed up for miles in both directions as a result of the freeway closure. All lanes in both directions are expected to be closed for hours, Jacobs said.

All lanes of the 5 Freeway near Elysian Park were reopened Tuesday morning after a big rig hit the center divider and caught fire, backing up traffic for miles during the early commute. Authorities reopened the freeway shortly after 7:30 a.m., said Officer Monica Posada of the California Highway Patrol. Traffic delays are still expected in the area around Fletcher Drive on the southbound side and Stadium Way on the northbound side. Continue reading > > -- Nicole Santa Cruz, Los Angeles Times

The 46-year-old man who jumped to his death Wednesday morning from the northbound Glendale (2) Freeway overpass was living with his parents and suffering from depression, police said. The man, Michael Romo, of Glendale, left a suicide note inside his 2001 Toyota Camry before he plunged to his death just before 6 a.m. from the overpass near Chevy Chase Canyon, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. Police received a call from a witness who saw Romo standing on the ledge of the overpass just before it happened, Lorenz added.

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.

It was a treacherous morning on local freeways Thursday morning, with one driver killed in a crash on the 134 Freeway in Toluca Lake and a big rig that jackknifed, at one point closing all lanes of the 5 Freeway in Glendale. In the westbound 134 Freeway crash, one person was killed and traffic was backed up for miles.At least two vehicles were involved in the crash at Cahuenga Boulevard. The collision, which was reported to the Los Angeles Fire Department around 4:30 a.m., closed several westbound lanes.

Two separate fatal crashes closed parts of the 5 Freeway near Glendale on Monday, just days after a woman died Saturday morning when her pickup truck shot about 50 feet into an area full of brush and trees near the Glendale-Los Angeles border. There were no details immediately available about the first incident, but the California Highway Patrol said the accident was reported at 12:06 a.m. near Colorado Boulevard. The second crash, which occurred about 2:15 a.m., involved multiple vehicles and at least one fatality after a car went down an embankment on a transition road from the eastbound 134 Freeway to the southbound 5 Freeway, according to initial CHP reports.

A 25-year-old man was killed early Monday after his car was rear-ended on a transition road between the 5 and 134 freeways near Glendale, sending the vehicle down an embankment before it burst into flames. The Los Angeles man was stopped on the connector between the eastbound 134 and southbound 5 about 2:15 a.m. when a Honda Accord rear-ended his Ford Focus, sending the vehicle down the embankment, the California Highway Patrol said. The man, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene.

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.

No one was injured in a big rig tanker crash Wednesday on the 5 Freeway that closed up to two lanes, sent a truck up onto a Mini Cooper and caused a fuel and oil spill, authorities said. The crash, which involved three vehicles, occurred shortly before noon when the Arco fuel tanker collided with another big rig truck near the Western Avenue off-ramp, officials said. Incredibly, no injuries were reported. The tanker overturned at about 11:56 a.m., spilling about 25 gallons of waste oil and diesel fuel on the dirt shoulder, according to the CHP. The other big rig truck in the initial crash ended up resting atop a Mini Cooper.