The 10 Freeway Is Open. But Is It Safe To Drive?

How many days does it take to open a damaged freeway? Eight, apparently.

The 10 Freeway from Alameda Street to the East L.A. interchange reopened Nov. 19, blowing an initial three-to-five week closure timeline out of the water.

While the speedy repair has helped Angelenos’ commute times, it’s also left some folks wondering about safety.

Here’s what you need to know as you get on the road.

Is it safe to drive on the 10?

People have taken to social media to joke about this question:

But the TL;DR is yes, according to officials.

The fire on Nov. 11 burned through wooden pallets, vehicles and other flammable materials that were stored under the bridge, causing a conflagration that burned the concrete.

Initially, there was talk of demolition and weeks of closure. But after crews sampled the damaged columns to test their structural integrity, Mayor Karen Bass told our newsroom’s public affairs show AirTalk that the damage is mostly “superficial.”

She said crews are focusing on repairing the damaged columns’ surfaces and have tools inside the columns to monitor movement around the clock, which allows crews to continue with permanent repairs as people drive on it.

Reinforcing the bridge

Authorities say work continued 24/7 until repairs allowed the reopening of the stretch of the 10 Freeway that typically handles 300,000 vehicles a day.

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Mario Tama

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As those repair plans were underway, "engineers developed a plan to reinforce the bridge with temporary shoring to distribute load capacity on the bridge safely,” according to Caltrans spokesperson Michael Comeaux.

Load capacity refers to how much weight a bridge can hold.

He added that they’ve used more than 100 tons of large steel beams, and enough 12-by-12-inch heavy wooden posts to stretch over a mile if placed end to end. Crews have also repaired damaged electrical systems and made some deck repairs.

Structural engineers certified that the loading and bracing met safety standards, allowing Caltrans to reopen the bridge, Comeaux said.

But for the long-term fix, he said Caltrans and the contractor are parsing out the final repair methods, such as “steel casing or reinforced concrete” for the columns.

Load capacity

A few of some of the repair work that made it possible to reopen the 10 Freeway to traffic for the Monday morning commute.

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Yusra Farzan

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LAist

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John Wallace is a civil and environmental engineering professor at UCLA and an expert in reinforced concrete structures, primarily on the seismic design end of buildings and bridges. He says that load capacity is key, and that engineers will be looking at repairs through that for standard driving use and for earthquake safety.

“The 10 Freeway obviously has some pretty good size vehicles that go over it, but they're going to be trying to restore the strength of the columns,” he said.

Each column is 3 feet in diameter and nearly 16 feet tall, according to Caltrans.

“They're really big columns, and it sounds like the damage is probably not that large,” Wallace said. “There's probably enough integrity in the system that because there’s so many columns, that it shouldn't be a collapse hazard, even in that case.”

About 100 concrete columns were damaged, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom in a news conference, but about 10 severely.

As crews continue removing unsound concrete, Comeaux said Caltrans may conduct additional assessments. Episodic closures of the 10 Freeway are expected, but those will likely take place at night.

Roughly 300,000 drivers use the stretch of freeway daily.