Part of 5 freeway to reopen, but tanker fire caused major damage

Caltrans announced that two lanes of the northbound 5 Freeway will reopen later this afternoon for the first time since a tanker truck fire at the freeway’s junction with the 2 Freeway on Saturday.

But officials said they are still not sure when all lanes in the interchange will reopen. Officials said the tunnel where the tanker caught fire suffered serious structural damage.

The closure of the northbound 5 Freeway — a major north-south route — has jammed traffic.

Caltrans workers on Monday worked to build a temporary support structure in the small tunnel where an overturned tanker truck dumped 8,500 gallons of gasoline, which ignited into a massive fire this weekend.

The temporary structure, made of wood and steel beams, is being put into place to make sure traffic and vibrations cause no cracks in the 5 Freeway, said Patrick Chandler, a Caltrans spokesman. The small tunnel connecting the northbound lanes of the 2 Freeway with the northbound lanes of the 5 Freeway was heavily damaged in the fire and will remain closed for several weeks to several months, Chandler said.

Chandler said the concrete in the tunnel walls was extremely brittle Monday. He could put his hand up to it, and it would fall away, he said.

“I can walk up to it and knock it off the wall,” he said.

Caltrans officials believe the wall could be damaged to a depth of five inches, he said. The walls are made of an aggregate of concrete and rock, and the rock is now exposed, he said.

Caltrans engineers have been working “nonstop” and hope to have all freeway lanes opened by Tuesday, he said.

Commuting times for some drivers quadrupled Monday morning, according to data provided by traffic-tracking company Inrix. Some portions of the route have since reopened, but the company said drivers should expect similar delays Monday evening.

Drivers headed north on the 5 Freeway between 10 Freeway and the 2 Freeway had it the worst Monday morning, Inrix said. At 8 a.m., the four-mile drive usually takes seven minutes. On Monday, it took 36 minutes. At 9 a.m., the drive typically takes eight minutes. On Monday, it took 33.

Heading south on the same four-mile route typically takes 13 minutes at 8 a.m., Inrix said. On Monday, it took 22. At 10 a.m., the drive typically takes seven minutes. On Monday, it took 24.

“This is four miles,” Jamie Holter, a traffic analyst, said in a prepared statement. “You could bike faster, if you could bike on the freeway.”

Surface streets seemed, for the most part, the more painless option, according to Inrix’s data. The one-mile stretch along Fletcher Drive between Glendale Boulevard and Marguerite Street took six minutes, heading west, as opposed to four.

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laura.nelson@latimes.com