On Saturday morning, the coastal town of San Clemente became ground zero in the war between California and the Trump Administration with a live road exercise on the military road at Camp Pendleton.
A 17-mile stretch of interstate 5 was closed intermittently through Camp Pendleton. The northern side of the closure was outside the San Clemente city limits.
Midmorning Saturday, Southbound 5 ground to a stop about half a mile before the El Camino exit, the second exit before closing.
Free past exit
Motorists brave or foolish enough to enter Avenida Palizada endure at least 30 minutes trying to exit the highway.
Some high-level cars are illegally made in an almost 90-degree free edge in the southwest to break the bottle by exiting the real aff el camino Oneramp for about 15 minutes. A California Highway Patrol officer, eventually climbed the ramp and blocked access.
San Clemente City Councilman Mark Enmeier said the road closure came “out of the blue” and that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department announced it on Instagram.
“There has been no contact with any local officials on this,” Enmeier said. Even if there was, he said, “I was not informed.”
For Enmeier, the bullet-watching event was “a demonstration of power on behalf of the minority” in addition to being timed to date for full-scale protest. Also, he said the freeway closure is an unnecessary source of revenue.
“Not only are we paying as a taxpayer for these shows, we’re losing money,” Enmeier said. “I mean, this is an arterial highway, and there’s no other way down to San Diego from Orange County other than taking an hour and a half.
At SC CETE in San Clemente, owner Joey Abi-Loutfi said: “I heard about the traffic from the news earlier and I couldn’t be sure what to say.”
Abi-Loutfi said he is not happy about the closure of the interstate, except for the low business due to the government’s show of force.
He said: “It’s worth the money,” said Sarcasm much bigger than his Chunky restaurant salsa.
With minafroons, it appeared that motorists had received word of the closure and conditions around San Clemente had deteriorated.
Along the 91 and 15 Freeways – the other interstates between Los Angeles and San Diego – they chased.
Gov. Gavin Newlom criticized the White House for failing to coordinate or share security information ahead of the Marine Corps 250th Celebration with Vice President JD Vence.
California said it closed 5 for safety reasons.
County officials said the Pendleton event was safe and that the closure of the freeway was not necessary.
