San Pedro 110 Freeway northbound lanes to reopen, structural inspection complete
Engineers with Caltrans say it's safe to reopen the 110 Freeway in San Pedro following a structural stability inspection due to a tunnel fire under the freeway that erupted at a homeless encampment on Monday night.
The Wednesday afternoon announcement offers relief to commuters as the 110 Freeway northbound lanes between Harry Bridges Boulevard and Channel Street had been closed since the blaze erupted. The Los Angeles Fire Department said that emergency personnel will stay at the site, requiring one northbound lane to remain closed.
"LAFD, Caltrans, and CHP working in unified command with City, County and State partners, have completed a structural stability assessment with all available technology, including LAFD drones and robots," LAFD said in a statement. "Caltrans engineers have determined that it is safe to open the 110 freeway in both directions."
Fire crews faced challenges to extinguish flames in the tunnel throughout the day on Tuesday.
"Our highest priority is to get that freeway back open." Los Angeles Fire Department Assistant Chief Carlos Calvillo said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference, adding that the goal is to have it open by Wednesday morning. Los Angeles City Councilmember Tim McOsker, whose district includes San Pedro, said at best, only one or two of the northbound lanes of the freeway will likely be open Wednesday morning.
According to Caltrans, the blaze began around 9 p.m. Monday in a culvert, defined as a "tunnel-like structure under the freeway that helps manage drainage," near the Channel Street on-ramp. Crews contained the fire, but "burning construction timber and other materials that cannot be easily moved will require ongoing suppression," McOsker said Tuesday morning.
The fire initially required a complete closure of the commuter freeway, but the southbound lanes opened up by 9 a.m. Tuesday after crews made progress.
Calvillo said as of Tuesday afternoon, that the "whole tunnel is submerged with water right now. " He explained the complexities in fighting the blaze, as the smoke building up inside the tunnel had one way out, and it's also the only way fire crews could get in.
He said crews diked the entire area with plastic and filled the tunnel with roughly 150,000 gallons of water, mixed with some foam.
"Because the tunnel is filled with water, we're not able to actually get the freeway open back up the way we want to," Calvillo said. Heavy equipment will be used overnight to vacuum the water out of the tunnel, and then that water will have to be offloaded for proper disposal. On Wednesday morning, pumps were visible at the site.
Determining the structural integrity of the roadway took time due to access. "It's not going to be easy. After we dewater it, there is a lot of debris in there, a lot of debris, and really kind of a filthy, messy debris. So we gotta kind of work through that," Calvillo said.
A complete search included drones, robots, hazardous materials teams, and Urban Search and Rescue teams. There were no victims inside the tunnel.
McOsker noted that it is not a tunnel that runs entirely across under the freeway, but rather "appears to be a very old tunnel that predates, or dates to the construction of, the original construction of the freeway." He said it's a little unclear which agency is responsible for the tunnel.
"We will make sure that we have a full evaluation of whose tunnel that is, and how it can be secured in the future," he said, at the same time calling for a full evaluation of Caltrans properties.
Caltrans said most recently in LA County, 1,979 encampments have been removed from its properties, and more than 19,290 cubic yards of debris, which equals around 1,500 standard dump truck loads, have been disposed of.
Los Angeles firefighters said that there have been reports of seven rubbish fires at the location since April 22, 2026.
