The presence of a probably suicidal man perched on an Interstate 5 overpass close to the Del Mar Fairgrounds pressured a number of partial closures of the freeway Friday after which an entire shutdown, tangling site visitors for miles from late morning via the afternoon rush hour and into the night hours.
The California Highway Patrol obtained a report shortly after 11:30 a.m. Friday {that a} pedestrian who seemed to be 30 to 40 years outdated and was carrying a cane was sitting on the sting of the Del Mar Heights Road bridge over Interstate 5’s northbound lanes, hanging on to fencing alongside the span, in response to the CHP.
By shortly after midday, the northbound facet of the freeway was closed and a disaster negotiator was attempting to speak the person off the overpass. Traffic on the interstate turned to gridlock for miles to the south.
As of two:25 p.m., the person was making his method towards the opposite finish of the bridge, prompting authorities to shut the southbound lanes, in response to the CHP. About 5 minutes later, he returned to the japanese facet of the overpass, and the CHP reopened the southbound facet of the interstate.
At 3:45 p.m., nevertheless, the person was crossing over to the western facet of the bridge as soon as once more, and a short while later the CHP instituted a full closure of the freeway within the space.
The state of affairs remained unresolved as of 6:45 p.m., excluding a number of transient late-afternoon reopenings of 1 southbound lane, in response to San Diego police and the CHP.
