A massive pallet fire beneath a raised, 450-foot section of the busy 10 Freeway near downtown Los Angeles has caused headaches for tenants on the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market and surrounding produce businesses.
The blaze, which officials have determined to have been caused by arson, broke out early Saturday morning and impacted pallet providers and other businesses that lease space under the freeway.
The thoroughfare is closed between Alameda Street and the East Los Angeles Interchange. The produce market is only about a half-mile north of the Alameda Street off-ramp, but those who work there say traversing that short stretch can be extremely time-consuming since all vehicles are directed off the freeway there.
Commuters also are turning to surrounding surface streets as an alternative to the freeway.
“It creates a nightmare over here,” said Carlos Virgen, salesman at Olympic Fruit & Vegetable Distributors on the Los Angeles produce market.
“Customers have to improvise,” he said.
Some buyers who usually visit the market during the late morning hours have adapted by coming at night, he said, “So they will have no issue with the traffic.”
It now can take an hour to get out of the downtown area, Virgen said. It previously typically took five minutes.
The worst day was Saturday, right after the fire occurred, said Steve Cantor, partner and director of sales and produce for Produce International on the market.
“Saturday was crazy,” he said, as trucks and commuters struggled to cope with the traffic jams. But by Thursday, customers were making adjustments.
The company continued to send out its bobtail trucks to make local deliveries.
“Except for traffic, business hasn’t been affected,” said Alan Pollack, general manager at Coosemans L.A. Inc. on the market.
“It seems like everyone is showing up on time,” he said.
Dispatching trucks in the morning doesn’t seem to be a problem, Pollack said. But it’s been taking much longer than usual for trucks to make their way back to the facility at the end of the day.
“People are working around it,” Pollack said. “They have to.”
An estimated 300,000 people travel through the affected area daily, officials said.
Workers on the job 24/7 repairing support structures are expected to have the freeway up and running again by Tuesday, Nov. 21, said California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Originally, the project was expected to take three to five weeks.
Meanwhile, “If you don’t have to come to downtown L.A., don’t even think about it,” Virgen said. “It’s a mess.”
