Cal State LA students reported concerns about the 10 Freeway closure with classes moved to Zoom and longer commutes interrupting their schedules.
“It’s just gonna take extra time out of their busy schedules,” said Cristina Esquivel, a Latin-American studies major. “As someone working full-time and going to school full-time, if that really affected me, I think it would get in between my mental health and overall health.”
A portion of the I-10 Freeway has been closed in both directions between Alameda Street and East L.A. due to emergency repairs after a fire damaged the structure on Saturday.
Originally officials thought it would take three to five weeks to repair but Mayor Karen Bass posted on Twitter that the freeway would be reopening ahead of schedule on Monday, Nov. 20.
The Los Angeles Fire Department discovered a 200 x 200 storage room with pallets and vehicles on fire on Nov. 11 after receiving reports of a rubbish fire in the area, according to the LAFD website.
LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey told the University Times that the fire took nearly 12 hours to fully extinguish with the bulk of the flames going out in the first two hours.
On Nov. 18, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection posted on Twitter an alert for a person of interest relating to the fire.
The individual was approximately 6 feet tall, with black hair and between the ages of 30 to 35 years old. The subject was seen leaving the area wearing blue shorts, a black hoodie and a black knee brace on his right left. There was also a possible burn on the left leg.
Humphrey said that there is currently no confirmed cause for the fire.
When asked for a comment, civil engineering professor Mehran Mazari referred to his article on LinkedIn about the importance of infrastructure resilience after the fire.
“In the context of transportation, this means ensuring that roadways, bridges, and tunnels can endure unforeseen events like fires, earthquakes, or floods,” he wrote.
Mazari recommends that the city install fire-proof material and redundancy in structural design, conduct a comprehensive risk assessment, educate the public on emergency protocols, and more to improve resilience to the freeway.
Due to the closure, Cal State LA sent out a campus-wide email informing students about the incident.
Ruby La, a psychology major, said that one of her professors ended up moving her class to Zoom on Monday due to the closure.
“Some people in my class today had to join through Zoom because they live in the LA area, and they couldn’t come on campus,” she said. “My Korean [studies[ professor today also had to do class through Zoom because I think she lives in Torrance.”
La said that while she appreciates the accommodation for students, she struggles with staying focused in classes on Zoom and thinks it may affect her studies.
“There’s a lot of distractions at home. La said, “It’s honestly a lot harder to pay attention to class because I have my mind on a whole bunch of different things like my dog in the background.”
However, most students interviewed by the UT said they were minimally affected by the closure.
Hayden Maldonado, a criminal justice major, said that he doesn’t need to take the freeway to get to campus.
“I come from Pasadena, so I take the streets when I drive here,” he said.
Ricardo Lopez, a Latin-American studies major, said that he comes from the San Gabriel Valley so he did not experience issues while taking the freeway, but he did experience traffic while getting to campus.
“There was an amount of traffic just coming here from Downtown L.A. to school,” Lopez said. “Usually it takes me like 10-12 minutes. Today it took me 20-25 minutes.”
Detour routes and information can be found on the Caltrans website.
To report any information on the subject of interest, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection advised to contact their Arson and Bomb Unit at [email protected] or call their arson hotline at 1-800-468-4408.
