If you were caught in the massive southbound gridlock on the 405 Freeway early Monday morning, you can blame a completely invisible hazard. A mysterious patch of debris turned the Sepulveda Pass into a massive tire graveyard, leaving over a dozen morning commuters stranded on the shoulder with blown-out tires.
The chaos began just before 6:00 a.m. on August 31, 2026. Drivers cruising along the southbound lanes near Skirball Center Drive in the Encino area suddenly found themselves swerving toward the shoulder after striking an unseen obstacle.
During a morning broadcast covering the massive traffic jam, CBS LA anchor Mark Liu noted that according to official California Highway Patrol (CHP) logs, “there was an unknown object or objects in lane of in lanes of the 405 freeway that was causing vehicles to have flat tires”…