LOS ANGELES, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 50, two key highways linking the west and east of the United States, were closed in the mountainous areas of Northern California due to a strong winter storm battering the state on Monday.
Interstate 80 is a transcontinental freeway from downtown San Francisco of California to Teaneck of New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. Local authorities reported that a 70-mile (112-kilometer) stretch of the route was closed.
U.S. Route 50, or US 50, is also a transcontinental highway, stretching from West Sacramento of California in the west to Ocean City of Maryland in the east.
Aside from the two highways, several California state routes, including SR-89, SR-20 and SR-49, were closed in the Sierra Nevada region. On SR-89, an avalanche cut the road from Tahoe City of California to near Squaw Valley, the site of the Winter Olympics in 1960, the California Highway Patrol said on Twitter on Monday.
"I-80, SR-20 and SR-49 will remain CLOSED today due to downed trees, power lines and continued heavy snow. Crews are working around the clock to get the highways reopened," the California Department of Transportation tweeted Monday.
Meanwhile, rockslides caused by heavy rain closed more than 65 kilometers of coastal Highway 1 in the Big Sur region. There was no estimate for the reopening of the scenic stretch that is frequently shut after wet weather. Enditem