It’s Rush Hour for Holiday Crowds

On the day known as Black Wednesday, the busiest travel day of the year, Southern California residents jammed airports, crowded onto MTA platforms and clogged freeways as they fled the region by planes, trains and automobiles for the long Thanksgiving weekend.

“It’s horrible right now,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Ken Lane during rush hour Wednesday. “It’s very congested--just what you’d expect the day before Thanksgiving to be like.”

Some of the heaviest traffic was on Interstate 5 and a number of highways feeding into that freeway, he said.

“People are trying to get out of town, and it seems that they’re all going north,” Lane said. “So northbound 5 and all the highways feeding into the northbound 5 are really backed up. People are trying to get a head start and get out of town early.”

Farther north, on Highway 99 near Merced, heavy fog reduced visibility to 50 feet early Wednesday, triggering accidents that injured at least 16 people and choked traffic for more than three hours.

The first wreck, involving two big rigs and a car, happened about 7 a.m., completely shutting down northbound lanes. Another major collision occurred shortly afterward in the southbound lanes, and a third group of accidents was triggered by the collision of two more big rigs.

The injured were treated and released at local hospitals, officials said.

“We’re lucky no one was killed,” said Sgt. Todd Morrison of the CHP’s Merced office. “We had cars and trucks sliding into each other all over the place.”

Although the freeways were filled and the airports were clogged, if it hadn’t been for the balmy weather, out-of-town journeys could have been much worse.

At Los Angeles International Airport, a steady stream of people arrived throughout the day, with the biggest congestion problems occurring in the early evening.

Most of the traffic bunched up at terminals 1 and 7, where airlines such as Southwest and United are located. But, airport employees said, it could have been worse. In past years, when it has been rainy and foggy, there was pandemonium at the airport.

Even with the good weather, the terminal was still crowded with passengers waiting for flights to leave.

Deena Fisk of Long Beach and Melissa Rheams of Santa Catalina Island were standing in a long line, waiting to board Southwest Flight 605 to Oakland.

Because the flight was delayed indefinitely, the airline’s employees started giving out free drink coupons to passengers for the ugliest identification photo. “You know it’s going to be delayed pretty long when they start doing stupid contests,” Rheams said.

Those who fled the city by train clogged Blue and Green Line stations all day, said Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokeswoman Mary Ann Maskery.

“It’s been crowded and the crowding started earlier than usual,” she said. “And the use of the shuttle between the Aviation Station on the Green Line and LAX has also been heavy.”

Officials said airport and freeway traffic should be light today because most long-distance travelers will have already reached their destinations.

Those who decide to stay in the Southern California area for Thanksgiving can expect excellent weather. It will be sunnier and warmer than usual, and the Santa Ana winds are expected to die down.

It is expected to be in the mid-70s today and through the weekend, with fair skies and some scattered high clouds. The Santa Ana winds are expected to kick up again Friday, but they will only be 25 to 30 mph, not as strong as the winds earlier in the week that downed power lines and caused power outages.

“People can look forward to very nice weather,” said Curtis Brack, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides weather information for The Times. “The next few days should be great weather for November.”

Associated Press contributed to this report.

* THANKSGIVING TALK

On this day of turkey, thoughts about customs and myths, and why one dad is thankful. E1