At the end of August, outdoor-loving Angelenos rejoiced when 66 miles of the area’s forest roads finally reopened after a year-long closure. But now, just a few months later, part of the highway has been closed again — and likely will be for a while.
The Angeles Crest Freeway, also known as State Route 2, is currently closed between Cedar Springs, near its intersection with the north end of the long-closed State Route 39, and all the way east to the highway’s intersection with State Route 138 near Cajon Pass. In total, there are about 27 miles of closed areas, pockmarked by washouts, crumbling asphalt and other recent storm damage.
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A portion of the Angeles Crest Freeway was severely damaged during December storms in Southern California. The highway just fully reopened at the end of August after a year of closures. (Caltrans Region 7)
The Angeles Crest Highway runs roughly east-west through the Angeles National Forest, from the suburb of La Cañada Flintridge to the mountain town of Wrightwood. The highway provides access to ski slopes, hiking trails and picnic areas and is the main route for millions of Angelenos each year to visit the vast national forest, often referred to as Los Angeles’ extended backyard.
About 10 miles of the middle section of the Angeles Crest Freeway has been closed since the winter of 2022-2023 before reopening in August after “relentless storms” caused the road to collapse and trigger rockslides, according to Caltrans. Repairs to the highway took several years, complicated by a bridge fire in September 2024 that caused additional damage.
It now appears that a late summer 2025 reopening will be short-lived.
Preliminary photos of damage to the Angeles Crest Highway from new storms this winter leave no doubt that the closure may be extended again. Caltrans posted on social media Tuesday that the December storm “caused significant damage to roadbeds in at least four locations,” with photos showing large chunks of road missing and asphalt cracked and lifted. “Angel Peak Freeway has been destroyed,” Mike Leum, assistant chief of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, posted on Instagram on Monday.
A portion of the Angeles Crest Freeway was severely damaged during December storms in Southern California. The highway just fully reopened at the end of August after a year of closures. (Caltrans Region 7)
For now at least, the closure appears to mark the end of a brief but glorious four-month period when the roads were completely clear. But this is far from the first or last time construction crews have battled nature, forcing a winding road through the ever-changing San Gabriel Mountains. Building the road between 1929 and 1956 required nearly 1,000 pounds of dynamite each day – and Southern California road crews and political officials have been working to keep the road open ever since.
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This article was originally published on California mountain highway used by millions ‘destroyed’ by heavy rains.