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Daily News
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LAX Waving Off Willis
Officials for the Los Angeles Airport and the airlines don’t want the new Die Hard movie tying up traffic on the 105 freeway that leads into LAX.
Monday, October 9, 2006 at 12:01 AM
By Dennis Michael
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Airlines and airport officials don’t want 20th Century Fox crews to tie up the Imperial Highway and the 105 Freeway coming into Los Angeles Airport, even if it is for a potential hit movie. Scenes for the fourth Die Hard film may be shot just south of the huge regional airport, but even though the interruptions on the 105 Freeway would be intermittent, the airlines are up in arms.
The intersection of Imperial Highway and Aviation Boulevard has peak traffic of 48 hundred vehicles an hour. That would be shut off entirely, and the 105 Freeway, which handles about 117 thousand vehicles a day, would close down during actual shooting to minimize problems with sightseers. The airlines say the timing of the shoot, just before the holidays, would cause substantial problems. Cargo trucks would be severely inconvenienced, and carriers might be tempted to take their business to other airports to avoid the delays.
Another factor is the planned use of pyrotechnics, and because it’s near an airport the Federal Aviation Administration is required to sign off on safety. Caltrans and The California Highway Patrol also have to approve the plan, as will the Los Angeles Board of Public Works and the Los Angeles Transportation Department. These concerns have to be weighed against the ongoing threat of runaway production, as studios leave the Southern California area to avoid problems like these.
Bruce Willis shot scenes for Live Free or Die Hard last week in Baltimore, and there were some traffic problems relating to a scene in which a dump truck rams a bus. Incidentally, the 105 Freeway was also one of the major shooting locations for the movie Speed several years ago, but that was while the freeway was still under construction, and had no traffic to tie up.
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