Bomb Scare Tangles Commuter Traffic on I-5

BURBANK — A suspicious-looking box that disrupted the morning freeway commute was blown up Thursday morning by the sheriff’s bomb squad, which concluded that it contained only clothing and trash.

The cardboard carton, measuring about 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep, was discovered by California Highway Patrol officers shortly after 4 a.m. on a guardrail near the Golden State Freeway overpass at the San Fernando Boulevard onramp, said Jordan Van Meter, a CHP spokesman.

After investigating, the bomb squad sent out a remote-control robot that took X-rays and blew up the box about 10:30 a.m. The onramp, which had been closed for about six hours, reopened after the bomb squad determined that the box was not dangerous.

During the bomb scare, portions of the freeway between Hollywood Way and Burbank Boulevard were closed twice for less than 15 minutes each, Van Meter said. The opposite offramp, Scott Road, was also closed twice.