Woman Dies in Plunge to Freeway : Investigation: The apparent suicide brought rush-hour traffic to a crawl for nearly three hours.

SHERMAN OAKS — A 56-year-old woman who apparently jumped to her death from a freeway overcrossing at Mulholland Drive brought Tuesday morning rush hour traffic to a crawl for commuters traveling from the San Fernando Valley to the Westside, authorities said.

The two far right southbound lanes on the San Diego Freeway were closed for nearly three hours, which backed up traffic to Nordhoff Street, about eight miles from the point where Evelyn Ruth Billings of Los Angeles was killed upon hitting the freeway pavement just north of Mulholland Drive about 6:30 a.m., Caltrans officials said.

Drivers were able to avoid hitting the woman’s body after it struck the ground, and no accidents were reported, said Terry Wong, part of a Caltrans management team that handles major incidents.

“I would say that it was amazing that nobody hit the body,” said Wong, noting that traffic at the time was moderate on what is considered one of the busiest freeways in the state.

Wong said traffic on the eastbound Ventura Freeway backed up to Winnetka Avenue, with westbound traffic clogging up at Coldwater Canyon Avenue. Wong said traffic on the northbound San Diego Freeway was not severely affected because it is typically light in the morning.

Commuters seeking alternate routes spilled over to surface streets through the canyon and along Sepulveda Boulevard, jamming those roads for several hours, Wong said.

A SigAlert--which is designed to alert commuters of severe traffic congestion--was called at 6:43 a.m. and was not canceled until 9:07 a.m., Wong said.

“The worst traffic was between 7 and 9 a.m.,” Wong said. “Even with five lanes, when you close two lanes at that time of morning we’re still going to have traffic congestion. Traffic is squeezed like an hourglass.”

According to Los Angeles County coroner’s investigators, Billings parked a friend’s car at the west end of the overcrossing and squeezed between a narrow opening in a high railing that fences in the upper roadway. The incident is being investigated as a suicide, police said.

Scott Carrier, a coroner’s office spokesman, said Billings apparently had a history of depression, but had not made any recent attempts at suicide.