Freeway Madness

Tonight's Headline

I-5 snarled after discovery of pipe bomb

5:01 p.m. November 2, 2007
SAN DIEGO – Sheriff's bomb-arson investigators detonated a pipe bomb that was found in a backpack on the side of Interstate 5 near La Jolla Village Drive on Friday. The investigation caused a traffic nightmare as authorities closed the freeway in both directions for nearly four hours.



Like we didn't have enough mayhem on the freeways last week with the fires and half a million people evacuating. Today, Friday afternoon, the 5 Freeway was closed in both directions.

I was meeting up with a friend at CPK for lunch. Along the way down the freeway I notice a car parked on the side of the road and several people scampering along the embankment - clearly looking for something in the ice-plant. There was someone on the top of the embankment calling down to them, co-ordinating the effort.

It registered as odd, but I didn't think much of it. On to more important things like catching up with a friend and enjoying my favourite Thai Crunch Salad.

We ran a bit late on lunch and both of us needed to scramble to make meetings at work. So we quickly said good-bye and then battled the traffic getting out of the parking lot. Odd to be so backed up, but it was Friday lunch. The real fun came when I went to hop on the freeway to zip the 10 minutes back to work. Both on ramps (North and South) had police cruisers blocking them. The freeway itself was completely barren. Not one car! ?! Perplexed, I took surface streets up to the next on ramp. Closed again. By this time I am in massive grid lock of confused people trying to figure options. The traffic report had just played, but unfortunately all I was able to decipher was that the 5 freeway was closed. I listen to only Spanish Language radio in the car. It is great for my Spanish studies, but bad for getting a clear grasp of what is going on in the world. I decided to take surface streets, my normal bike route along the coast. It took me over an hour to make the normal 10 minute trip back up to work.

Once I got back to my office I pulled up the local news to see what was up (click here for the arcticle). A pipe bomb was found on the embankment where I had seen folks searching earlier - just a few minutes from my home and by the on/off ramps I use daily. A little too close to home.

There has been way too much excitement the last few weeks. Here is hoping for a quiet weekend!