WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. — California highways have been shut down by wildfires, mudslides, earthquakes and police chases. Add one more hazard to the list: road rage.
Drivers inconvenienced by a road-widening project subjected construction workers to so much abuse — including death threats, BB gun shootings, even a flying burrito — that the state revoked a rush-hour window and shut down the highway altogether.
Now drivers who relied on California Highway 138 are being forced to take a detour that costs them at least a half-hour a day and businesses along the road are suffering.
"A few inconsiderate people have ruined it for the rest of us," complained Julie Dutra, who owns a scrapbook and stationery store in this town nestled in the Angeles National Forest about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Dutra's complaint has become a familiar refrain in a state where people have moved in droves from big cities to a more affordable lifestyle in valleys, deserts and mountains, where they hope to escape the hassles of urban living that often come with more cars: congestion, smog and aggressive driving. MagazineLane.com
Drivers inconvenienced by a road-widening project subjected construction workers to so much abuse — including death threats, BB gun shootings, even a flying burrito — that the state revoked a rush-hour window and shut down the highway altogether.
Now drivers who relied on California Highway 138 are being forced to take a detour that costs them at least a half-hour a day and businesses along the road are suffering.
"A few inconsiderate people have ruined it for the rest of us," complained Julie Dutra, who owns a scrapbook and stationery store in this town nestled in the Angeles National Forest about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Dutra's complaint has become a familiar refrain in a state where people have moved in droves from big cities to a more affordable lifestyle in valleys, deserts and mountains, where they hope to escape the hassles of urban living that often come with more cars: congestion, smog and aggressive driving. MagazineLane.com
