Schwarzenegger, the Traffic Terminator

Call it “The Shoot That Strangled L.A.”

Filming for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest action flick, “End of Days,” closed down several crucial downtown intersections Monday morning, trapping unsuspecting motorists in a rush-hour jam that angered even the city’s most accomplished road warriors--and may continue through Wednesday.

“I had no idea what was happening,” said Abe Rasheed, an accounts manager for the city of Los Angeles’ Public Works Department, who was mired in traffic for more than twice his usual 25-minute commute from home in Pasadena.

After snaking his way through downtown streets, where he turned three times, finding his way barricaded each time, Rasheed said he finally made it to his office at 2nd Street and Broadway only to discover the fuss was over a movie.

“I hated that,” he said. “The filming schedule should be on weekends or after hours.”

Normally, it would. And Los Angeles office workers are well accustomed to dodging movie sets and lane barriers as they stream out of downtown on any given night.

In fact, the last time there was a street closure in which there was significant traffic impact was when a three-block portion of Main Street was closed three years ago to re-create 1940s Los Angeles for “Devil in a Blue Dress,” said Michael Bobenko, senior vice president for the Entertainment Industry Development Corp., a nonprofit group that issues film permits for the city.

But when Beacon Communications and Universal Studios made a similar request for the newest Schwarzenegger epic--a millennial tale in which Satan cruises New York for a bride--it was too good to refuse, said Bobenko. Rather than risk losing the $100-million film and its cast of hundreds to New York or other venues, city officials agreed.

The only questions were how many streets and for how long, said Glenn Ogura of the city’s Department of Transportation.

At first, Ogura said, the production company wanted to close down seven blocks of 4th, Spring and Main streets for 24 hours during the several days needed to film sequences of helicopters and automatic gunfire near the Banco Popular building.

The city balked. “We said we need to move commuter traffic,” said Ogura.

As a compromise, the company agreed to do its heaviest filming on the weekends. And city officials agreed to close three blocks of 4th Street, between Broadway and Los Angeles Street, from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the three work days leading up to Thanksgiving--figuring that traffic patterns, as they have in the past, should be light during the shortened work week.

They were wrong. The 4th Street closure, exacerbated when portions of Spring and Main streets were closed starting at 9 a.m., created such a backup that some motorists reported getting stuck for 20 minutes in the 2nd Street tunnel several blocks away.

Bill Borden, co-producer on the Schwarzenegger movie, said he hoped that filming exteriors on 4th Street, a one-way street out of downtown, would make it easier during the morning rush hour.

He received news that it hadn’t in a call Monday afternoon from a reporter.

“Looking around here, we don’t see any traffic backup at all . . . ,” said Borden, talking on a portable telephone, hours after the morning tie-up. “We don’t see a traffic pattern.”

Road closures for the filming will continue today and Wednesday, with a break for Thanksgiving before resuming on the weekend, said city and film officials.

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Movie Gridlock

Filming for the latest Arnold Schwarznegger movie “End of Days” will require traffic-snarling closures of three crucial downtown streets over the next week. Following are the streets and times of closures:

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4th Street, three blocks between Broadway and Los Angeles Street, from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. today and tomorrow; from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Only one lane of traffic will be closed next Monday.

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Spring and Main streets, for two blocks betwen 3rd and 5th streets, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today and tomorrow; from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. These streets will not be closed next Monday.

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MTA bus lines 28, 38,70, 81, 90 and 94--all of which travel on Spring Street--will be rerouted during those times, with northbound buses traveling on Los Angeles Street between 6th and 3rd streets, and southbound traveling on Hill Street.