Freeway guardrails are now a favorite target of thieves

Summary

Keep up with LAist. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. On a recent Thursday evening, traffic was slow on the 10 Freeway as cars crawled into the downtown Los Angeles area. It was an average commute back to Pasadena for Bryan Gonzalez until he saw a man on the other side of the freeway cutting through a guardrail with a reciprocating saw.“OK, there's something weird going on,” Gonzalez said about his observations from Aug. 21, which he captured on video and reported to Caltrans. “I was debating whether or not saying anything, but I said, ‘Hey, I'm in slow traffic. He has a saw. No, thank you.’” What Gonzalez observed was not a fluke. Guardrail theft is a problem that has been on the rise for the last eight years, according to the local Caltrans office covering L.A. and Ventura counties. Over the last two years, the state transportation agency has spent more than $62,000 on repairs related to guardrail theft in the region. The man who appeared to be trying to steal the guardrail apparently didn’t succeed. A photo Gonzalez shared with LAist the following week shows an intact guardrail with a mark where the saw was used.California Highway Patrol, whose jurisdiction includes state-owned highways, said it’s investigating the incident. A spokesperson for the agency said it hasn’t found the man in the video.Aluminum, which Caltrans’ guardrails are made from, is just one metal used in public infrastructure that is increasingly stolen and sold to metal scrapyards and recyclers. Missing guardrailsOver the last several months since he’s been commuting to work in Culver City, Gonzalez said he’s noticed guardrailing disappearing on the 10 Freeway near the 110 Freeway interchange.“I was just equating it to normal wear and tear of accidents and the guardrailing doing what it's supposed to do,” Gonzalez said. When he saw the man with the sa...