California Department of Transportation

Monster Pothole in 405 Construction Zone Flattens Hella Tires, Backs Up Traffic for Miles

Let's hope incoming NASA space shuttle Endeavour doesn't hit one of these babies on its road trip across Los Angeles. Last night around 8 p.m., just as rush hour was about to die down, the pothole to trump all potholes was unearthed on the 405 North -- right smack dab in the middle of Metro's lates ... More >>

710 Freeway Expansion Would 'Improve Air Quality and Public Health,' Says Metro; Residents Call B.S.

A new wave of resistance is swelling in the decades-old struggle between California transportation officials and L.A.-area residents over both an expansion and extension of the uber-clogged 710 freeway. That's because one of various extension scenarios just released by Caltrans and Metro happens to ... More >>

Los Angeles Map App by Caltrans Lets You Know Traffic Sucks in Real Time

No longer do you have to buy a crappy navigation device and suction-cup it to the wrong part of your windshield only to get stopped by cops for obstructing your driver's side view. Caltrans this week announced that it's helping to put TomTom out of business with a new, a traffic website called Quic ... More >>

Interstate 15 to Vegas All But Shut Down

Update: Woo-hoo! All lanes have been reopened. The bad news? You'll still want to avoid the area (more at the bottom). First posted at 12:57 p.m. Bad news, party people. If you're driving to Las Vegas for the weekend to take advantage of off-season hotel rates and ever dipping gas prices (it's all ... More >>

Carmen Trutanich Suffers Another Defeat, As Judge Tosses Criminal Charges In Supergraphics Case

For as long as he's been L.A. city attorney, Carmen Trutanich has been trying to throw Barry Rush in jail. Rush, owner of the firm World Wide Rush, was once one of the major installers of unpermitted supergraphics -- the giant vinyl signs that blanket the sides of buildings.Trutanich came into offic ... More >>

Giant Black Bear Roams Streets of Glendale, Scares Crap Out of Texting Pedestrian (VIDEO)

The notorious black bear of northern L.A. County reportedly spent some quality time in the Glendale suburbs last night, trolling for tuna and meatballs as he's been known to do. But this time, he stuck around until morning -- causing an L.A. media frenzy we've not seen the likes of since Caltrans s ... More >>

Connor Penhall, 21-Year-Old Caltrans Worker and Son of Racer/Actor Bruce Penhall, Killed by Alleged Drunk Driver

Updated after the jump: Caltrans responds, and the ghost of Penhall expresses unhappiness with his job. Originally posted at 8:30 a.m. The victim of a late-night crash on the 10 West has been identified as 21-year-old Connor Penhall, a Caltrans subcontractor and the son of racer-turned-actor Bruc ... More >>

Alex Rodriguez, Young Duarte Man, Dies When Car Flies off Highway 39 Cliff

This post has been updated to correct information about the victim's identity. Twenty-year-old Duarte man Alex Rodriguez was declared dead early Sunday morning. He had driven his Honda sedan off the side of the windy, cliffside San Gabriel Canyon Road -- also known as Highway 39. A 16-year-old gir ... More >>

Woman Sexually Groped in Her Sleep by Koreatown Neighbor: Bayarsaikhan Bazarragchaa Convicted

Stefano Corso​So you had a swingin' night out with your hubby and you make it home and pretty much crash. He passes out on the couch and you head to the bedroom to dream about little fluffy clouds. Except that somebody's randy and starts to touch you, lick your breast and pull your pants down ... More >>

Cellphones in Your Butt: The Extreme Lengths Prisoners Take to Get Phones Inside California Prison

SamsungIs that a phone in your arse or are you just happy to see me?​At LA Weekly we've been all over the prison cellphone-smuggling story. It's gotten so bad that authorities have had to ask Facebook to cancel the accounts of people known to be behind bars. (They can get accounts through smar ... More >>

Malibu's Blood Alley on PCH

As bodies pile up, the Coastal Commission and Caltrans resist major fixes

Renowned Bike Experts Turned Away From L.A. City Cycling Workshop

ebbc.orgGreen bike lane in Long Beach.​The bike problems thicken for L.A. Two prominent bike afficienadoes, one of whom was a government employee, were asked to leave today when they tried to observe the Think Bike L.A. workshop. The reasons for this are not quite clear.

Carmageddon Junior This Weekend as 710 Freeway Closes Overnight in Southeast L.A. County

NoiseCollusion​We're sensing a little Westside bias. Shutdown the 405 for less than a weekend and all other news must cease: The world is coming to an end. But over on the Eastside they're going to have a little Carmageddon Jr. going on this weekend. That's right, the 710 will be shut down ... More >>

Carmageddon, Day 1: Cyclists, Joggers, DUI Suspect Brave Empty 405 Freeway; Rest of L.A. Stays Home

John M. via FoursquareThe Wolfpack, high off their big win against JetBlue (and a city of cars) today.​The first day of the big 405 closure was disgustingly sunny, carefree, car-free, and otherwise lovely. We'd go so far as to say there's been a magical warm-and-fuzzy feeling in the air -- ma ... More >>

Carmageddon on the 405

Adding a lane won't ease congestion

Jesus Cabrera, 27-Year-Old War Vet, Dies in Fiery Motorcycle Crash With Excavator During Closure of 10 Freeway

Pasadena Star-NewsConstruction on the 10 West​For reasons unknown, late Tuesday night, a 27-year-old motorcyclist entered a construction zone stretching two miles down the 10 West -- closed off via large neon "road closed" signs. After almost making it through the zone alive, the man plowed st ... More >>

Green Electricity From Freeway Vibrations? L.A. State Assemblyman Mike Gatto Wants to Make it Happen

Mean and green? Magnum P.I.​Sorry Ed Begley Jr. and Al Gore (also junior). You're going be bummed when we pass your girly man Priuses in our 15-miles-per-gallon sports car, all the while smug knowing that we're green too. (We're going to design a piss-on-Priuses bumper sticker just to rub it i ... More >>

(Video) Tim Donnelly, R-Tea Party, Shreds Jerry Brown's Budget

Photo by Kevin ScanlonTim Donnelly​Assemblyman Tim Donnelly is turning out to be a real gift to the Sacramento press corps. Since he arrived last month, the Tea Party candidate from Twin Peaks has shown no indication of idling on the Capitol's back benches.The latest proof is a video in which he l ... More >>

I-5 Freeway At L.A. Grapevine Still Closed After Night From Wintery Hell

Bakersfield NowNot a good start for weather in 2011​What a depressing way to start a brand-new year of the infamous Los Angeles commute. All those holiday stragglers who waited until Sunday night to drive home -- hoping to avoid the mass SoCal exodus/influx, not realizing it was really this z ... More >>

Your Guide To L.A. Road Closures -- And A Wind Advisory For 7 P.M.

Don't be a dick​Updated after the jump with current conditions and some record storm stats for the books. Originally posted at 12:36 p.m. Update, 3:20 p.m.: The big storm should hit between midnight and noon tomorrow. We'll get at least two inches. (So far, 14 people have been rescued from Or ... More >>

Muralgeddon

Onion Truck Causes Traffic Nightmare

Flickr/psyberartistbag of white onions​ No this isn't a fake headline from The Onion, although it would be pretty funny, albeit briefly and only for a couple of punchlines, if a truck spilling of copies of the satirical newspaper caused the kind of traffic chaos that the overturned truck of ac ... More >>

State Advisory Panel Considers Mandatory Condoms For Porn Industry

​The Aids Healthcare Foundation is hailing the first meeting of a state advisory panel Tuesday that will weigh whether condoms should be required in adult video shoots. The California's of Department Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) advisory panel on the matter was meeting at the Cal ... More >>

Preservationists Unhappy About Pasadena Freeway Upgrades

byways.org​The old Arroyo Seco Parkway, a.k.a. the Pasadena (110) Freeway, is the unlikely target of a preservation effort by those concerned that planned upgrades by Caltrans will strip the curvy, picturesque roadway of its historic character. Already the freeway is a National Historic Civil ... More >>

L.A. City Attorney Files Suit Against 'Supergraphic' Sign Company

Google Maps5858 Wilshire Blvd.​The Los Angeles City Attorney's office Thursday announced it has filed a civil suit against a sign company, several sign installers and property owners for allegedly illegal "supergraphics" and billboards erected at five locations in the city. The suit seeks mill ... More >>

RICHARD ANKROM’s Freeway Art: Caltrans Buys Into the Prank

Los Angeles Freeway FUBAR: I-405 closures hitting Westside and Valley; expect an ugly three years

If you live in the roughly 50 Southern California communities sprinkled between Granada Hills and the South Bay, or anywhere west of La Cienega Boulevard in L.A., you are about to live through the worst traffic nightmare ever along the most nightmarish stretch of freeway in the U.S.​I'm talking ab ... More >>

Drive-By Antioxidants: Pomegranates Spill on the 5 Freeway

If you were heading south on the 5 this morning near Newhall, you might have had a few Halloween flashbacks. The LA Times reported that a truck carrying pomegranates collided with a box truck, spilling the bright red fruit over the highway shortly before 4 a.m. Maybe some Caltrans workers got their ... More >>

Glendale City Council: No to 710 Tunnel

One of L.A.'s great communal imbroglios is the extension of the Long Beach Freeway, also known as State Route 710. Years ago construction ended at its Alhambra terminus, so that it currently connects Long Beach directly to -- Valley Boulevard. Caltrans wants to complete it so that the highway will c ... More >>

L.A.'s Newest McSupergraphic?

Anti-clutter activists are irked again by the billboard industry's latest affront to good taste. Over the weekend, an office building on Overland Avenue in West Los Angeles put up a five-story supergraphic of a giant frosty coffee beverage as part of McDonald's advertising campaign to break into th ... More >>

Bill Would Allow Video Advertising on Freeway Signs

A bill that would authorize advertisements on freeway signs used for Amber Alerts and other emergencies in California is headed for a state senate committee hearing next week. Called the "State Highway Operation and Protection Program Emergency Funding Act," the bill would allow Caltrans to turn o ... More >>

A Pasadena Author Researching Jogging Trails Cracks an Old Serial-Killer Case

Weston Dewalt's amazing year

Body Dig Underway for Boy who Disappeared 40 years ago

As a media throng watched from behind yellow crime scene tape, dozens of law enforcement and forensic experts on Monday began excavating a small piece of land along the 23 Freeway in Moorpark where police believe child serial murderer Mack Ray Edwards buried 16-year-old Roger Dale Madison 40 years a ... More >>

Caltrans Proposes Plan for "Vegetative Advertisements" along the Freeways

What would you think if you saw a Fed Ex logo made out of tulips as you were motoring along one of California's freeways? How about the Golden Arches made from yellow roses or buttercups along the shoulder of the road? It turns out that putting "vegetative advertising" - a logo or advertisement m ... More >>

Los Angeles Convention Center Before and After

Last week, the Los Angeles City Council approved a deal that could lead to dozens of monster-size billboards and video displays to be mounted on the outer walls of the Los Angeles Convention Center – aimed at tens of thousands of motorists driving by one of the most congested intersections in Amer ... More >>

Mega-Billboard for Billionaire Anschutz: What's Next, Preparation H Pavilion?

City Council rolls over for tycoon, ignoring its own anti-billboard law

Pushing Out Pisano

After an interminable 31 years, a controversial czar of planning is leaving

Where Are the Adults?

City Hall can’t cope as L.A. neighborhoods get hit by taggers gone wild

Rage Against...

Bruce Willis, Maxine Waters and Living Wagers, plus a new religion for Teddy “The Gay Hypocrite” Haggard

Best Place to Get Drunk ­After ­Chewing Out the Planning ­Commission

Upwardly Mobile

Developer Dan Rosenfeld on the vertical future of Los Angeles

Architecture As a Contact Sport

L.A.’s Thom Mayne wins Pritzker Prize

Brave New Cityscape

Bunkum Hill

Over the past 50 years, the city has tried repeatedly to turn Grand Avenue into the living, breathing heart of downtown, and has failed miserably. Now, a public-private group led by Eli Broad is trying again — with the emphasis on private

Good Is in the Details

Guerrilla Public Service: The Man Who Would Be Caltrans

Soft on Crime Fighters

Higher-ups ignored problems with drug case, prosecutor alleges

Small City, Big Plans

West Hollywood struggles through the chaos of reconstruction

The saga of a toxic school

Upgrades on the Gravy Train

We got laws for jokers like these