By Douglas V. Gibbs
They've been telling us about it for weeks. The 405 freeway from the I-10 to the 110 will be shut down, and those of you wanting to cross the canyons are out of luck. Horror, traffic jams, and gridlock, has been the prediction
This is California. Such traffic conditions are pretty normal as far as we are concerned.
The 405 freeway is normally a traffic nightmare - that's why most sane motorists do what they can to avoid the thing.
Now, they want to work on it, to ultimately give us one more lane of madness.
The 10-mile stretch of the 405 Freeway they plan to work on is being shutdown this weekend, and this piece of highway infamy is one of the busiest sections of a freeway in the nation. Now, nobody but construction workers are on it.
All of those secret shortcuts you know about through the canyons won't work, either, because unless you are a tourist from Texas, or the East Coast, or another country, or something like that, you know about those shortcuts - and those shortcuts will be filled with cars.
The workers began shutting down the on and off ramps along the ten mile stretch of freeway Friday night, and then at midnight, the whole section of freeway was closed down. Now, it is time for 53 hours of work, while the freeway-a-holics find new routes, or stay at home slapping their arms in need for the next fix of transportation out of the area.
Carmageddon has been anticipated, and authorities have been to recommending drivers, for just one weekend, to stay at home. Otherwise, there could be traffic paralysis.
Stay home? Easy for you to say.
The many surrounding freeways will be busy, and yes, even on the weekends, L.A. traffic can get very rush-hour-like.
What is actually happening, so far, is that everyone is so worried about the traffic that they are indeed staying home. Even this week, traffic has been lighter than normal, as if many people took the week off to prepare for Carmaggeddon.
Los Angeles Mayor Villa-la-Raza, uh, err, I mean Villaraigosa, encouraged folks to stay close to home throughout the weekend - the first sane thing the mayor has said in years - and so far people seem to be heeding the advice.
Carmaggeddon is becoming more like Y2K - all hype, lotsa fizzle.
Los Angeles road warriors can still take to the roads, and the other freeways seem to be fine, for now. The canyon passes will surely back up a little as the weekend progresses, but then again, that is normal traffic behavior - so what's a tad worse traffic to people who are used to moving slowly in L.A. traffic?
Just in case all hell breaks loose, however, free market capitalism will be in full swing. There will be discounted helicopter rides over the empty stretch of the 405, as well as $4 to $5 tickets to board special JetBlue flights between Long Beach Airport and Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. The airline, seizing on the national buzz about Carmageddon, offered the deal this week by calling the short, 20- to 30-minute flights a "planepool" between the San Fernando Valley and the coastal city.
Tickets sold out within three hours.
Cyclists are also jumping into the fun, planning on peddling a 40-mile route starting near the Burbank airport to see whether they or a JetBlue passenger will reach Long Beach first.
Cycling advocates said they hope to show that gridlock can be avoided without using a car or plane.
Through it all, road construction crews have been working quickly to take down a section of the 50-year-old Mulholland Bridge as part of the $1 billion freeway-widening project - and they are taking down the bridge the old fashioned way, piece by piece with an excavator. Explosives will not be used because of gas lines that run through, and around, the bridge.
Business owners in the area are staying with friends so they won't need to make the commute, and the UCLA Health System, which runs the huge Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center located near the 405, is putting its weekend staff in dorm rooms and hotels to ensure they don't run late to work.
For emergencies, three helicopter companies are on standby to transport patients and human organs.
In the end, it is becoming quite a minor event. All fear, and little pain. Quick, easy, and over with by the end of the weekend - sort of like an out-patient surgery.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Carmageddon: 'Impressive start' to freeway project, official says - Los Angeles Times
'Carmageddon': Los Angeles freeway shuts down - Associated Press/Yahoo News
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