Nov 2, 2006 9:06 am US/Pacific
Live Free, Die Hard, Sit In Traffic Outside LAX
Bruce Willis Movie Will Snarl Airport Traffic Throughout November
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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The latest installment of Willis' 'Die Hard' films will cause delays around LAX.
Starting Saturday, traffic around
Los Angeles International Airport will be heavier than usual to accommodate the filming of the next "Die Hard" movie, "
Live Free or Die Hard."
Filming -- and delays -- will occur on certain days throughout November. Filming will continue through Sunday and on Nov. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 18 and 19.
Airline passengers and workers should expect delays getting to LAX, according to Nancy Castles of Los Angeles World Airports.
Castles said that airport managers did not issue the filming permits but will try to cope with the traffic and detours as best they could. No filming will take place at the airport, but pyrotechnics will be used on some roadways around LAX.
Cargo managers at LAX protested freeway closures and said there could be bottlenecks when 20th Century Fox starts shooting "Live Free or Die Hard."
Imperial Highway between Aviation Boulevard and Nash Street is scheduled to be closed in both directions between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The westbound lanes will be closed until 7 p.m.
The studio has said a westbound lane would be kept open "whenever possible" to airport cargo traffic only to access the LAX Imperial Cargo Center at the intersection of Imperial and Aviation, Castles said.
"This is a very heavily used intersection at Imperial and Aviation, and they're diverting to an even heavier-used intersection," Castles said. "We're concerned about the weekend traffic on the Saturday and Sunday before Thanksgiving ... However, we're hoping that advance notification will prepare motorists coming into LAX."
Despite efforts to get the 18th and 19th shoots canceled, filming will still take place during heavy pre-Thanksgiving travel.
Over this weekend -- as well as during the weekends of Nov. 11-12 and Nov. 18-19 -- the eastbound Century (105) Freeway between La Cienega and Sepulveda boulevards and the freeway connectors from the 105 east to 405 north and south will be closed from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Westbound 105 will also be closed during those weekends on an unannounced, rolling basis. The westbound 105 will be completely closed on Sunday, and again on Nov. 12, from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Drivers will be diverted one mile on northbound Aviation Boulevard to westbound Century Boulevard to enter the airport.
On Saturdays, about 300 to 350 construction trucks working on LAX renovations will be diverted to Sepulveda Boulevard, clogging traffic even more.
According to Castles, the film producers said they intend to use pyrotechnics, gunfire and a helicopter.
FilmL.A., a nonprofit corporation, issues film permits for unincorporated Los Angeles County, the cities of Los Angeles, Diamond Bar and Southgate, and coordinates the issuance of permits for the Angeles National Forest and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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