Freeway Project Scaffold Crumbles : Accident: No injuries reported as tons of wood and steel lattice work supporting connector road under construction tumble onto Imperial Highway.

Tons of wood and steel scaffolding supporting an elevated connector road under construction between the Century and San Diego freeways collapsed Tuesday, dumping debris across Imperial Highway just east of La Cienega Boulevard, authorities said.

No injuries were reported. Caltrans crews used cranes to lift the debris in an effort to determine if any construction workers were trapped beneath, said Caltrans spokeswoman Margie Tiritilli.

“Strictly by the grace of God or whatever you believe in, no one was injured,” said Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman.

The 125-foot section of lattice work fell as far as 80 feet onto Imperial Highway at 2:15 p.m., but the concrete it had held remained in place, said Pat Reid, another Caltrans spokeswoman.

Craig Fenton, a Caltrans assistant inspector, narrowly escaped injury as he drove east on Imperial Highway, the California Highway Patrol said. Fenton told officers that he saw the collapse and slammed on his brakes, skidding his car to a stop just feet from where the tons of steel and wood beams crashed down.

Another driver told CHP officers that he was traveling west on Imperial and passed beneath the scaffolding just as it collapsed. He saw the falling debris in his rear-view mirror.

A freeway construction worker who asked not to be identified said that had the collapse happened 45 minutes later--when hundreds of people would have been passing the site on their way home from work--”you’d be talking about a lot of dead people.”

Reid said the latticework “gave way and it fell over six live traffic lanes on Imperial Highway.” The cause of the incident was not immediately determined.

The structure was part of a support system for concrete forms used on the long-delayed Century Freeway. Concrete was poured earlier in the month and had cured, Reid said.

“It was supposed to come down in a few days anyway,” she said of the lattice work.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department sent an “urban search and rescue team” with special gear to the scene near Los Angeles International Airport. A helicopter ambulance also was on standby.

The collapse closed Imperial Highway in both directions between Inglewood Avenue and La Cienega Boulevard, along with several entrance and exit ramps on the nearby San Diego Freeway.

Officials said the roadway will remain closed until Thursday, the day President George Bush is scheduled to visit a Metro Rail Green Line construction site at Imperial and Aviation Boulevard. The 23-mile Green Line will run down the Century Freeway’s median from Norwalk to Los Angeles International Airport.

There have been several collapses associated with freeway construction over the years in the Los Angeles area.

A half-completed freeway bridge from the San Bernardino Freeway to the San Gabriel River Freeway collapsed in May, 1970, killing a man whose truck was crushed beneath 4 million pounds of concrete and steel on the transition road.

In October, 1972, the center section of a bridge carrying the Foothill Freeway over the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena collapsed, killing six workers and injuring six others. Improper bracing of scaffolding was blamed for that accident.

Four months later, a second section of the same bridge collapsed, delaying completion of the span more than a year. Tons of steel, concrete and timber tumbled into the arroyo when water from heavy rains undermined temporary supporting towers.

Times staff writer John Kendall contributed to this story.