Montrose bridge parking banned amid safety fears

Trucks and other vehicles were banned Tuesday from parking on Ocean View Boulevard between the eastbound and westbound onramps to the Foothill (210) Freeway in Montrose.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich proposed the change after receiving complaints from several residents about big rigs parking on the overpass, said Tony Bell, his spokesman.

Mike Kaspar, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, said his agency and the California Highway Patrol also shared concerns about tractor-trailers parked on the overpass.

“Primarily, it is a safety concern,” Kaspar said. “People exiting the 210 [Freeway] trying to make a turn onto Ocean View Boulevard are encountering these 18-wheel trucks that make it difficult to make those turns,” he said.

The vehicles appear to be long-haul trucks that sometimes stay “for a couple days at a time,” Kaspar said.

On Tuesday morning, two trucks were parked on the south side of Ocean View between the off ramps, with no one inside. Efforts to reach the firms listed on the cabs of the trucks were unsuccessful.

The change was one of several traffic and parking zone modifications the supervisors made Tuesday to areas around the county. Another was to lift the two-hour parking restriction on Ocean View Boulevard between Florencita Drive and Mira Vista Avenue, one block above the intersection with Honolulu Avenue. A two-hour parking limit has been in place on that block since 1955, according to county documents.