On Saturday morning, the coastal city of San Clemente turned floor zero within the battle between California and the Trump administration over a preplanned live-fire train over the freeway throughout a navy occasion at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
A 17-mile stretch of Interstate 5 was periodically closed by way of Camp Pendleton. The northern aspect of the closure was simply outdoors San Clemente’s metropolis limits.
Midmorning on Saturday, the southbound 5 floor to a halt about half a mile forward of the El Camino Actual exit, the second-to-last exit earlier than the closure.
The earlier three freeway exits — Avenida Palizada, Avenida Pico and Avenida Vista Hermosa — all had flashing indicators warning of the approaching closure.
Motorists who had been courageous or silly sufficient to enterprise past Avenida Palizada endured a minimal of half-hour attempting to exit the freeway.
Some automobiles on the interstate illegally made almost 90-degree activates the freeway heading southbound to interrupt by way of the bottleneck by exiting the vacant El Camino Actual onramp for about quarter-hour. A California Freeway Patrol officer ultimately rode up the ramp and shut off entry.
San Clemente Metropolis Councilmember Mark Enmeier mentioned that the freeway closure got here “fully out of the blue” and that he came upon about it simply as many residents did on Saturday morning when the Orange County Sheriff’s Division introduced it on Instagram.
“There was no coordination with any native officers on this in anyway,” Enmeier mentioned. Or if there was, he mentioned, “I used to be not knowledgeable of it.”
To Enmeier, the live-ammunition occasion was a “present of power on behalf of some people” greater than possible deliberately timed to at the present time of widespread protest. Plus, he mentioned the freeway closure is a supply of pointless monetary pressure.
“Not solely are we paying as a taxpayer for these exhibits of power, we’re additionally dropping cash,” Enmeier mentioned. “I imply, this can be a main arterial street, and there’s no different method right down to San Diego from Orange County with out taking an hour-and-a-half detour.”
On the SC Cafe in San Clemente, proprietor Joey Abi-Loutfi mentioned: “I heard concerning the site visitors from the information a day earlier and wasn’t precisely certain what to suppose. That’s the give-and-take of proudly owning a restaurant proper subsequent to a freeway ramp.”
Abi-Loutfi mentioned he’s not thrilled concerning the interstate shutdown, although, other than slower-than-usual enterprise as a result of authorities’s present of power in firing off weapons.
“What an awesome use of funding,” he mentioned with a sarcasm thicker than his restaurant’s chunky salsa.
By midafternoon, it appeared motorists had gotten phrase of the closure and situations round San Clemente had eased.
By the 91 and 15 freeways — the inland alternate options to the 5 between Los Angeles and San Diego — had been jammed.
Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the White Home for failing to coordinate or share security info forward of the Marine Corps 250th anniversary celebration that includes Vice President JD Vance.
California mentioned it closed the 5 for security causes.
Administration officers mentioned the Pendleton occasion was protected and {that a} freeway closure was not wanted.
