Extreme Cold Forces Morning I-5 Closures

Cold weather delayed thousands of commuters south of the Avery Parkway onramp on I-5 Wednesday morning, said Caltrans spokesperson Tracey Lavelle.

It was so cold last night, concrete slabs that normally cure in two hours weren't cured nearly five hours later, Lavelle said.

She said the last concrete slab was poured at 2:45 a.m. Workers had expected to open all lanes of traffic by 5 a.m. for morning commuters.

The delayed opening affected the carpool lane as well as lanes numbered 1, 2 and 3. Lanes 4 and 5 remained open, Lavelle said.

All lanes of traffic were opened at 7:34 a.m.

Whether work on the project will continue this week remains to be seen.

“With the low temperatures anticipated for the remainder of this week, we’re going to evaluate," the spokesperson said.

This morning tied a record low temperature of 35 degrees set in 1984, according to weather.com. Of course this date only comes around once every four years.