Los Angeles is a city long familiar with the limits and trappings of static freeway infrastructure.
The 405 closure highlighted the ability of Angelenos to enjoy their surrounding neighborhoods and to simply stay home. Local neighborhood events flourished and small businesses saw a surge in commerce. The freeway closure was an awakening for Angelenos who generally take their mobility and city for granted. Instead of hopping in their cars, people were biking on nearby trails, attending local festivals, and exploring their own backyards. All traffic maps glowed a bright green hue, indicating calm roadways.
#Carmageddon 2 los angeles free#
The anticipated heavy traffic and chaos unpredictably resulted in a weekend free of sigalerts and traffic warnings. Instead the 405 closure produced an unexpected surprise Angelenos avoided utilizing the infrastructure that defines the identity of the city with its traffic jams and commuting nightmares. The citizens of Los Angeles were poised to expect nothing less than a complete city shutdown. Flashing signs warned of the pending construction on every roadway, inside and outside city limits, well over a month before the closure’s occurrence. Proclaimed Carmageddon by the news media, the closure of the 405 freeway was over-hyped.
For one weekend, from Friday night to Monday morning, locals and tourists alike were forced to re-map and re-navigate the city, without its 405 thoroughfare. Overextended in its capacity, the 405 freeway required partial demolition of the Mulholland Bridge at the Sepulveda Pass, making room for a single, added HOV lane. For 53 hours, 10 lanes from the 10 to the 101 freeway, adjacent to the beach communities of Santa Monica and Venice, remained impassable for all users. Arguably the busiest stretch of freeway in America closed. This story was updated to correct an earlier error regarding remarks by Marc Littman.On July 16th, the unthinkable happened in Los Angeles. Once it’s done, it will be wider and longer than the original. After this weekend’s demolition, it will take nearly a year to finish rebuilding the north side of the bridge. The overpass - which reopened earlier this week - is 5-feet higher and 30-feet wider.Īnd finally there’s the work tearing down and rebuilding the Mulholland bridge – the operation that required last summer’s Carmageddon I, and the upcoming Carmageddon II. Project developers have revamped the Skirball Bridge and they just finished upgrading the Sunset Boulevard bridge, over the 405, after two years of work. “And so people who are traversing through the city of LA can choose the car pool lane and be out in a much quicker, faster way,” said Krishniah Murthy who oversees Metro’s construction projects.īesides improving ramps and extending the carpool lane, there is all of that bridge work. Once the carpool lane extension is complete, the 70-mile straight shot along the 405, from Orange County to the San Fernando Valley, will be the longest carpool lane in the world. In addition to the work on the ramps, the project has another key element: a carpool lane running from the 10 to the 101. The city of L.A., the state, and the federal government are jointly paying the billion-dollar bill. The Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project is a joint venture between Metro and Caltrans. “We have to carpool, we have to plan ahead, we have to put more time in our schedule," Rosendahl emphasized. He said people who travel through this interchange have to adjust to Ramp Jam. LA City Councilman Bill Rosendahl sits on the council’s transportation committee.
Work started on the first two ramps in June, and officials don’t expect to finish all eight until spring 2013. Yaroslavsky said the ramp work – some call it “Ramp Jam,” some call it “Rampture” – will help traffic flow and make getting on and off the 405 safer. “Tens of thousands of freeway bound motorists travel here on a daily basis," said Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro board member Zev Yaroslavsky, as he stood near the congested Wilshire-405 interchange recently. This stretch of the 405 is certainly due for a makeover – it was built about a half century ago, when there were millions fewer people living in, and driving around, the southland.Īnother critical part of the project is improving the area’s freeway ramps, especially the cluster of eight ramps at Wilshire Boulevard. Welcome to the Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project, a billion dollar plan to wipe out gridlock and spruce up the nation’s busiest highway. There’s been so much talk about ‘Carmageddon - the Sequel’. The work is just one small part of a much bigger project. Over the weekend, workers will demolish the north side of the Mulholland Bridge. Friday night, crews will start shutting down ramps along the 405 freeway – northbound between the 10 and the 101, southbound between the 101 and Getty Center Drive.
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