SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A cylinder that resembled a pipe bomb but turned out to be an inert piece of military ordnance turned up Monday on an Interstate 5 transition ramp to the Coronado Bay Bridge, prompting a 90-minute closure of a stretch of the freeway while a bomb squad examined and disposed of the object.
A motorist reported spotting the roughly 18-inch-long tube on the roadway shortly after 8:30 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
Southbound traffic was temporarily diverted to State Route 94 and Park Avenue. The roadway was reopened about 10 a.m., after an explosives team examined the object using a camera-equipped robot, deemed it harmless and removed it from the freeway, said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
Luque declined to specify the precise type of ordnance involved. but said it apparently had fallen out of a passing vehicle.
