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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
I-40 Filming Creates 3-Hour Jam
By Dan Mayfield
Journal Staff Writer
The movie "Due Date" may be a comedy, but there was nothing funny about the three-hour traffic jam the film created.
The film shut down Interstate 40 eastbound just outside of Laguna Pueblo from 7 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Saturday night into Sunday morning, slowing truckers, travelers and about 800 people coming in from a night of boxing at Acoma's Sky City Casino.
"You know, for a movie, that's crazy, man," said three-time world champion boxer Danny Romero, who was returning from watching the fights.
The movie closed I-40 from the Paseo del Volcan exit to the 98th Street exit. Traffic was diverted onto the frontage road, basically turning the interstate west of there into a parking lot from 10 p.m. to nearly 2 a.m.
Romero said he escaped the jam, just barely, by taking the road from Laguna to Los Lunas.
"There was a line all the way back" to Laguna Pueblo, he said.
The state Department of Transportation approved the shutdown for the filming. The department looks at each film, or other request to use a highway, on a case-by-case basis, said Mark Slimp, NMDOT public information officer.
"We assess the situation with the safety of our travelers, the impact on the commute, and with regard to any potential damage or issues that the use of the road or right-of-way could cause," he said, "and that's balanced with a positive and proactive approach to working with the movie productions."
"I think there may be a need for an examination of that process," he said.
"But right now most of the production teams have worked well with DOT, and there has been little negative impact."
Gov. Bill Richardson has touted the benefits of attracting movies to the state, an industry that has brought in millions of dollars each year. His office declined to answer questions about whether it was appropriate to close the interstate for filming and referred all question to DOT.
Filming ended early after filmmakers realized the backup it was causing.
"We had no idea it would take so long to clear traffic," said Spooky Stevens, the local publicist for the movie. "And the truth is, we cut our day in half because once they realized what was going on with traffic, they cut it around 1:30."
The film had booked the location until 5 a.m.
This isn't the first time "Due Date" has caused delays in traffic.
In early October, the film shut down U.S. 70, the main route between White Sands Missile Range and Las Cruces, and caused days of major traffic jams. The film altered its shooting schedule after complaints.
"Due Date" is the latest film by the people behind this summer's blockbuster film "The Hangover." It stars Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. It is a road movie about two men traveling cross country to meet one of their expectant wives, and highways play a major part in it.
"I looked in the paper the next day to see if there was a horrible accident," said Chris Cozzone, who was returning to Albuquerque after the fight. "It (angers) me that it was just for a movie. I got as far as Route 66 Casino, and then I doubled back on the median and took the frontage road back. That took an extra hour."
Though driving on medians will usually earn you a ticket, hundreds of cars were using the dirt and both shoulders of the highway, to try to dodge the jam or double back toward Route 66 Casino. Several trucks simply parked on the shoulder.
Phil Gallegos, spokesman for the DOT District 3, which includes Albuquerque, said his district approves up to 10 requests a month for films to shoot along highways, and most are never noticed. The state does not get paid for the use of the highway.
"Typically we've got it set up so that it doesn't lock traffic like it did Saturday," he added.
Gallegos said he and department officials scan the schedules of Journal Pavilion and the casinos in the area to make sure closures don't impact a huge crowd coming home. Most likely, Gallegos said, the additional 400 to 500 cars coming through Albuquerque from Acoma exacerbated the jam.
"Every once in a while something like that gets by us," Gallegos said. "But for something like this, if I were to have gotten a call, or anybody would have called the DOT, we would have stepped in.
"In this case, if (the filmmakers) hadn't stepped in, it would have gone all night."
Journal staff writer Rene Romo contributed to his report.
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