Highway 58 in Tehachapi reopened Monday morning after snow and ice caused the highway to close Sunday afternoon.
The California Highway Patrol shut down the roads in both directions due to winter weather, but reopened the westbound lane around 11am and the eastbound lane around 11:30am.
Traffic was lined up for miles waiting to get out of Tehachapi. There was traffic congestion initially, but by the afternoon traffic was flowing smoothly.
Saphia Arquisola said yesterday she dropped her husband off for work at Savemart in Tehachapi, drove home to California City, and drove back to pick him up yesterday around seven in the evening.
However, because Highway 58 was closed down, two semi trucks stopped in the middle of the road, blocking traffic for miles. She said her normal trip takes her 25 minutes, but because of the road block it was a six hour trip.
"I never want to go through that again," said Arquisola.
For two men visiting America from Australia, their experience was completely different. The two traveled down the coast yesterday, stopping in Paso Robles for dinner before driving to Bakersfield for the night.
They slept in this morning and then left toward Las Vegas. They made it through the roadway without facing any of the road blocks, but stopped in Tehachapi to take pictures of the snow.
“Just a bit of luck there, lucky we slept until 10:30," Steve Loche.
As for the Tehachapi residents they spent their days in different ways, students took advantage of the powder like snow and built snow mans.
“It was kind of like hail the last time we got it and we couldn’t build a snowman it was just falling apart because it was hard, so the snow packs together better," said Leandra Cordova.
Many took advantage of the snow, but others hand to do the clean up work.
“I kind of wanted to wait until it started melting but either way it was getting icy so I just kind of got at it," said Mario Lopez who was shoveling snow and ice from the driveway.
Monday was sunny and cool with a slight breeze. The sun started melting off most of the snow, but because of that it causes the potential for slick road conditions.
We will continue to monitor weather and road conditions throughout the evening.
