LA commuters are voicing outrage over the near complete gridlock in West LA during President Obama's arrival yesterday, as main traffic arteries were completely shut down for hours during the evening rush hour. KTLA has the details:
The president's motorcade took him north on the San Diego Freeway to Westwood Blvd, then east to Hancock Park. For security, the 405 was temporarily closed as was Westwood Blvd and many other Westside streets.
The result: Complete gridlock.
Drivers reported traffic at a stand-still from Hollywood to the Miracle Mile and from Beverly Hills down to Culver City and west into Venice, Santa Monica and the Palisades.
The Wrap's Hunter Walker wrote from the eye of the storm:
As of this writing, they are saying that large stretches of Olympic Boulevard will be shut until 9 p.m. I have also seen indications on the road and on the radio that huge portions of Pico and Santa Monica boulevards are also closed.
Those of you who are familiar with Los Angeles know that closing these three streets mean the entire city will be gridlocked. On LaPeer and Olympic, I was literally barricaded in on a small, residential block for over an hour with at least 50 people.
I can't imagine how many hundreds of others must be stuck in other areas of the city. I also can't imagine how many medical emergencies and accidents have been exacerbated by the gridlock.