‘Carmageddon’ to hit LA this weekend
Dubbed by the American media as Carmageddon, the official closure has been looming large for weeks and has promoted warnings against any unnecessary travel on the west side of the sprawling metropolis from tonight until Monday morning.
Local government has asked high-profile Twitter users such as Lady Gaga (11.6 million followers), Kim Kardashian (8.2m) and Ashton Kutcher (7.1m) to pitched in with the PR effort to minimise the chaos.
Running north-south through the western section of LA, the infamous Interstate 405 (referred to locally through gritted teeth as the “four-oh-five”) is in the midst of a $1 billion-dollar widening project while the demolition of a bridge at the upper end of the affected 16-kilometre stretch is the chief area of concern.
Residents have been directed to a Carmageddon Facebook page and a website with maps and videos while a Twitter feed will help people track the crisis.
“If you think the 405 is gridlocked during the week, you haven’t seen anything yet,” Mayor Antonio R Villaraigosa said last week.
“My message is to stay home. Or go on vacation. Walk. Go on a bike. But we’re telling people ‘do not get in your car and go anywhere near the west side’. It’s going to be a mess.”
The road is a vital artery between the heavily populated San Fernando Valley area to the north, the city of Los Angeles and southern cities such as Long Beach along with the Orange County area.
The effected section cuts through an area dividing the coastal city of Santa Monica to the west and the affluent suburbs of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood to the east.
In what should be a frenzied period of road construction, the Mulholland Drive Bridge is set to be demolished and rebuilt in order to accommodate three metres of widening and an extra car pool lane heading north.
In southern California, the repercussions are expected to be felt over 160km north to Bakersfield and all the way down to the northern suburbs of San Diego, encompassing another 200km of roadway.
The last time the 405 experienced this much of a shock to the system, OJ Simpson was in the back seat of a Ford Bronco driven at an easy pace by an ex-team mate as nine LAPD patrol cars gently pursued him watched on by 20 press helicopters and 93m television viewers across the country.
It was on that fateful day in June, 1994 that the ex-footballer, the chief suspect in the double murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and a male companion, held a gun to his own head as he was driven to their family home in Brentwood, north of Santa Monica, just off the 405.
Thousands of onlookers watched the car exit at Sunset Boulevard and some even followed him all the way to his mansion where he eventually surrendered to police late that Friday evening.
The 1984 Olympics in LA caused similar levels of concern to that which is being experienced now but the alarmist predictions which preceded the games had the desired effect as traffic flowed better than normal. But city chiefs have not been lured into a false sense of security given the exponential increase in vehicles on the road since then.
Hospitals are lining up hotel rooms for employees while, according to the LA Times, “the Los Angeles Emergency Operations Centre, a high-tech command post built to manage during a natural disaster, will be in full operation”.
Local businesses have criticised the apocalyptic predictions while attempting to offset potential losses — discounts are being offered at everything from cinemas to tattoo parlours.
There are no shortage of weekend break offers at surrounding cities in the southern California regions while airline operators are offering cheap flights to anywhere but LA International Airport, which is served by the 405 and lies not far south of the closed portion of road.
Tonight, ramps along the effected area will begin to shut down as early as 7pm Pacific time while the closure of lanes will begin three hours later to ensure full road closure by midnight.
Reopening will begin at 5am on Monday morning and is expected to play havoc with the morning commute.
