Four-Car Crash Snarls Cahuenga Pass, Sends At Least One to Hospital

A four-vehicle crash tore through the Cahuenga Pass Sunday evening, leaving at least one person hospitalized and prompting officials to shut down a stretch of Cahuenga Boulevard. At the same time, crews cleared extensive wreckage from the roadway. Firefighters and paramedics responded at about 6 p.m. to 2888 N. Cahuenga Blvd., between Barham Boulevard and the Hollywood Bowl, where the tangle of vehicles left the scene littered with damage.

Four patients were evaluated following the collision, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Jamie Stewart, as reported by NBC Los Angeles. At least one person was hospitalized, though information on the severity of the injuries was not immediately available. Stewart also said per City News Service that additional patients could still be transported from the scene as the evaluation continued.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation was asked to shut down a stretch of Cahuenga Boulevard for an estimated one to two hours, and motorists were advised to avoid the area while crews worked. The cause of the crash was unknown at the time of the report.

Emergency Crews Close By

The Los Angeles Fire Department dispatched units from Fire Station 76, Battalion 5, and the West Bureau to the scene, with the LAPD logging the traffic investigation under Incident #3328, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Station 76 sits at 3111 N. Cahuenga Blvd., less than half a mile north of the crash site, which likely helped crews reach and evaluate the four patients quickly.

The stretch of roadway where the crash happened is no stranger to trouble. Cahuenga Boulevard is part of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation's Vision Zero High Injury Network, the small share of city streets that account for a disproportionate number of traffic deaths and severe injuries, per Streetsblog Los Angeles. The corridor operates as a four-lane Modified Avenue II roadway with steep downhill grades, a design that regularly produces rear-end collisions and multi-vehicle pileups as drivers brake for signals near Highland Avenue, according to Los Angeles City Planning documents cited by the Yaghmai Law Firm.

A Pass Already Under Pressure

Sunday's crash also landed during a weekend of unusually heavy traffic pressure on the corridor. Caltrans had scheduled extended weekend lane and ramp closures on the southbound 405 Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass from Friday through Sunday, which tends to divert San Fernando Valley traffic onto the 101 Freeway and surface streets through the Cahuenga Pass, per Patch. Caltrans has also scheduled overnight lane and ramp closures on northbound U.S. 101 between Highland Avenue and State Route 170 running Monday through Friday this week for ongoing paving work in the pass.

That paving work is part of a larger $24.3 million pavement rehabilitation project covering four miles of U.S. 101 through the Cahuenga Pass, running from this past winter through summer 2029, according to Caltrans. The project includes replacing cracked concrete slabs, installing new guardrails, and repairing damaged on-ramps along the historic corridor. When the 101 backs up, drivers frequently divert onto Cahuenga Boulevard, adding to traffic density on its steep grades.

A History of Speed and Safety Concerns

City officials have tried to address the corridor's crash risk before. In March 2022, Los Angeles lowered the posted speed limit on Cahuenga Boulevard East between Barham Boulevard and Pilgrimage Bridge from 45 mph to 40 mph, part of a citywide effort adjusting limits across 28 street segments identified as severe crash locations, according to CBS Los Angeles. The Hollywood Bowl also works with the city's transportation department and police to deploy dedicated traffic control officers and digital signage along Cahuenga Boulevard, managing event traffic surges that affect roughly 5,000 nearby households in the pass.

The Cahuenga Pass itself has long served as the main transit corridor linking the Los Angeles Basin to the San Fernando Valley, a 745-foot-elevation gap through the Santa Monica Mountains named for the Tongva village Kawé'nga. It's a route with deep history, having been the site of the 1831 Battle of Cahuenga Pass and the 1845 Battle of Providencia long before it became a modern commuter bottleneck.

Sunday's crash is not the first serious incident to snarl this stretch of roadway. Hoodline reported a fiery pursuit crash nearby in October, and covered another high-speed police chase that wove through the same corridor in January. As of the latest information, the cause of Sunday's four-vehicle collision remained unknown, and it is unclear whether LAPD's Incident #3328 investigation will point to speed, distracted driving, or merging conflicts tied to the weekend's heavy detour traffic.