Phantom of the Freeway Strikes Again : Dumping: Caltrans is faced with the dilemma of eventually disposing of the growing mound of illegally deposited dirt.

He comes at night in a 10-wheeler dump truck. Or maybe it’s a tractor-trailer, or a semi. Not even the authorities know for sure because they’ve never seen him.

They know him only by the signature he leaves with each clandestine visit--a dozen tons of earth, give or take a few shovelfuls. The whole thing only takes a few seconds before he clatters away into the night.

Come daylight, motorists zipping by in the commuter-hour frenzy would hardly notice anything different, the change being incremental. Yet those whose job it is to maintain the state highways notice. To them, he’s the Phantom of the Glendale Freeway.

He first struck in August, neatly placing his load at the end of the long strip of barren roadway between the on-ramp and off-ramp where the Glendale Freeway ends in Silver Lake.

Then he came again and again. His deposits grew like a mole’s mound.

Officials of the California Department of Transportation reasoned that the phantom--or phantoms, as far as anyone knows--was hauling waste from a construction site nearby, using the empty roadway to spare himself a 15-mile trip to the nearest legal dump and also the fee, of $60 to $90 a ton.

“Rather than them paying, they’re making a little more on the construction job and leaving it for the taxpayers to pay,” said Sid Thompson, highway maintenance superintendent for the Silver Lake area of Caltrans.

Officials didn’t immediately become alarmed, however. Most of the time, the phantom left nearly pure dirt, at worst containing some construction debris such as broken concrete and drain pipe.

For a time, they saw it as a windfall, helping to separate the two fast-moving roadways. “Right now, that dirt serves a function,” said Le Morgan, manager of the Los Angeles Metro Maintenance Region of Caltrans. “You have a sharp curve, then you come down on Glendale. Those piles of dirt kind of act like a barrier.”

But Morgan’s concern grew as the mound grew, gradually encroaching onto the freeway surface where cars racing up from Glendale Boulevard spread out onto the four lanes heading north. Occasionally, Caltrans had to bring in a skip loader to push the dirt back.

“We stacked it up and gave him a better place to dump, as it turned out,” Morgan said.

Eventually, it will have to be hauled away at taxpayers’ expense. But right now, Morgan is in no hurry to get rid of it, knowing that if he does, the phantom will have a clean surface to work with again.

“It’s just a nice, beautiful dump,” Morgan lamented.

Police and the California Highway Patrol are aware of the problem. If caught, the phantom could be charged with illegal dumping, a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $1,000. But he has proven tantalizingly evasive. Since the phantom comes only sporadically, surveillance is not considered promising, Thompson said.

Vigilant residents have occasionally called to report dumping in progress, but by the time police arrive, the renegade has disappeared.

As a last resort, Morgan wants to lay a barrier of K-rail, the large concrete slabs used to form the center divider on freeways. It would take about 21 pieces, he thinks.

Unfortunately, the nearest stock of K-rail is in Newhall. Morgan doesn’t have a vehicle that could carry the 20-foot slabs. So, he’s planning to go out to bid for a private hauler.

Thompson isn’t even sure that would work.

“I have serious doubts about whether that will eliminate it,” Thompson said. “I have a feeling they will dump outside the rail.”