Carmegeddon

SpecialK · 07-13-2011, 05:08 PM

This weekend, a 10-mile section of a major Los Angeles freeway will be closed for about 56 hours...

It is being called "Carmegeddon". You can google it.

I would not be surprised if it made it on your local news, wherever you are.

If you were planning on visiting this weekend, I can only say.. "Stay away ".

I guess I will have to pass on grave-hunting this weekend as it takes me up that way.

On a related note, Jet Blue airlines is offering a Los Angeles-Burbank flight on Saturday only for $4.00 (four dollars). It basically hops over the affected area and will be their shortest route ever at perhaps 25 miles.

reeftool · 07-14-2011, 05:18 AM

Sounds to me like a great weekend to paint the house or something. While road closures and repairs are a pain, it's something that needs to be done on occasion. Nothing lasts forever. We just had a major interstate interchange get closed in Albany due to cracked beams. It's the main exit to the State Capital complex and for those who work downtown, it's going to be a real hassle and last for more than a weekend.

MRRiley · 07-14-2011, 05:21 AM

WOW... what a mess that's gonna be...

Phil1 · 07-17-2011, 09:36 AM

So far it is a Y2k bust as far as traffic snarls etc. More of another over played - media hyped semi-non event. The work is almost complete. Most folks did work arounds or stayed in place. The Valley stores were really slow. PCH may have had some traffic which is normal for Saturday beach goers anyway. I have spend a lot of time on that hiwy and it was rather amazing to see it without cars. Kinda like the Hudson River dried up.

jogiba · 07-17-2011, 03:46 PM

The 405 Freeway officially reopened through the Sepulveda Pass on Sunday morning, hours ahead of schedule.

Officials began removing the barriers blocking the onramps to the freeway around noon.

Phil1 · 07-17-2011, 05:09 PM

Yup, it's back to the worlds largest parking lot and bump 'em car concession. I meant to say that the pre-event media hype is what kept everyone doing other things so that worked well.

RoxnDox · 07-18-2011, 09:51 AM

Originally posted by Phil1

So far it is a Y2k bust as far as traffic snarls etc. More of another over played - media hyped semi-non event. The work is almost complete. Most folks did work arounds or stayed in place. The Valley stores were really slow. PCH may have had some traffic which is normal for Saturday beach goers anyway. I have spend a lot of time on that hiwy and it was rather amazing to see it without cars. Kinda like the Hudson River dried up.

Yep, Y2K is kinda what I was thinking about. A potentially major fuster-cluck, averted by lots of people listening to the news and taking the advice to find alternatives... Rather like the multitude of programmers who worked very hard on untold millions of lines of code to change the parts that *would* have crashed the programs at 01/01/2000 00:00:00.

Y2K wasn't a bust, it was a very successful software non-event created by a multitude of hard-working prgrammers.

Jim (why yes I was one of them...)

RioRico · 07-18-2011, 11:50 AM

A billion bucks to add a carpool lane to a short section of asphalt that will be overfilled immediately. Is there a LESS cost-effective way to get people from here to there? Mule-train, maybe? Much of the civilized world is working on ways to keep autos OFF the roads and OUT of cities. More USA mass psychosis IMHO. (USA leads the world in prescribing and using anti-psychotic drugs. Must be an epidemic here, eh?)

--Rio(haven't been an Angeleno for decades)Rico

Phil1 · 07-19-2011, 10:01 AM

Kind of a hidden secret with this is they will have to do the same thing again to the second half of the bridge when that has to be torn down. From the rapid demolition of the south half, it's pretty clear that the north half could have been included in the same time window. They could have had a couple more boom hydro cement busters working on the north side easily. So the bottom line is this will cost about twice as much for the demolition and the freeway will have to be closed again. CalTrans wanted to do it only one time but some of the powerful neighbors on the hillsides did not want to drive a little further while the new bridge was being built to widen the 'parking lot' 405 below.

The job was finished 17 hours early in the approx. 56 hours allocated for the job. The contractor shared in the cost savings and his take was $300,000 some media indicated.

The non-event will be the big taxpayer cost when they have to do it again for a few million. You won't feel it as Calif is only $28 billion or so in the hole now and was considering issuing IOU script a while back.

Ratmagiclady · 07-20-2011, 01:25 PM

I thought that despite their car-dependence, California was the *home* of 'Let's not go there?'

Maybe that worked.

They're also the home of the 300 car freeway pileup, so it may be just as well if they said, 'Don't drive here while we fix this.'

07-13-2011, 05:08 PM	#1
SpecialK Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: So California Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,482	Carmegeddon This weekend, a 10-mile section of a major Los Angeles freeway will be closed for about 56 hours... It is being called "Carmegeddon". You can google it. I would not be surprised if it made it on your local news, wherever you are. If you were planning on visiting this weekend, I can only say.. "Stay away ". I guess I will have to pass on grave-hunting this weekend as it takes me up that way. On a related note, Jet Blue airlines is offering a Los Angeles-Burbank flight on Saturday only for $4.00 (four dollars). It basically hops over the affected area and will be their shortest route ever at perhaps 25 miles.

07-17-2011, 03:46 PM	#5
jogiba Banned Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Millstone,NJ Posts: 6,491	Carmageddon ends: 405 Freeway reopens to traffic The 405 Freeway officially reopened through the Sepulveda Pass on Sunday morning, hours ahead of schedule. Officials began removing the barriers blocking the onramps to the freeway around noon.

07-14-2011, 05:18 AM	#2
reeftool Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Upstate New York Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 9,555	Sounds to me like a great weekend to paint the house or something. While road closures and repairs are a pain, it's something that needs to be done on occasion. Nothing lasts forever. We just had a major interstate interchange get closed in Albany due to cracked beams. It's the main exit to the State Capital complex and for those who work downtown, it's going to be a real hassle and last for more than a weekend.

07-14-2011, 05:21 AM	#3
MRRiley Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Sterling, VA, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,275	WOW... what a mess that's gonna be...

07-17-2011, 09:36 AM	#4
Phil1 Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: SoCal Posts: 1,292	So far it is a Y2k bust as far as traffic snarls etc. More of another over played - media hyped semi-non event. The work is almost complete. Most folks did work arounds or stayed in place. The Valley stores were really slow. PCH may have had some traffic which is normal for Saturday beach goers anyway. I have spend a lot of time on that hiwy and it was rather amazing to see it without cars. Kinda like the Hudson River dried up.

07-17-2011, 05:09 PM	#6
Phil1 Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: SoCal Posts: 1,292	Yup, it's back to the worlds largest parking lot and bump 'em car concession. I meant to say that the pre-event media hype is what kept everyone doing other things so that worked well.

07-18-2011, 09:51 AM	#7
RoxnDox Pentaxian Join Date: May 2007 Location: Gig Harbor, Washington, USA, Terra Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 4,494	Originally posted by Phil1 So far it is a Y2k bust as far as traffic snarls etc. More of another over played - media hyped semi-non event. The work is almost complete. Most folks did work arounds or stayed in place. The Valley stores were really slow. PCH may have had some traffic which is normal for Saturday beach goers anyway. I have spend a lot of time on that hiwy and it was rather amazing to see it without cars. Kinda like the Hudson River dried up. Yep, Y2K is kinda what I was thinking about. A potentially major fuster-cluck, averted by lots of people listening to the news and taking the advice to find alternatives... Rather like the multitude of programmers who worked very hard on untold millions of lines of code to change the parts that would have crashed the programs at 01/01/2000 00:00:00. Y2K wasn't a bust, it was a very successful software non-event created by a multitude of hard-working prgrammers. Jim (why yes I was one of them...)

07-18-2011, 11:50 AM	#8
RioRico Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Limbo, California Posts: 11,263	A billion bucks to add a carpool lane to a short section of asphalt that will be overfilled immediately. Is there a LESS cost-effective way to get people from here to there? Mule-train, maybe? Much of the civilized world is working on ways to keep autos OFF the roads and OUT of cities. More USA mass psychosis IMHO. (USA leads the world in prescribing and using anti-psychotic drugs. Must be an epidemic here, eh?) --Rio(haven't been an Angeleno for decades)Rico

07-19-2011, 10:01 AM	#9
Phil1 Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: SoCal Posts: 1,292	Kind of a hidden secret with this is they will have to do the same thing again to the second half of the bridge when that has to be torn down. From the rapid demolition of the south half, it's pretty clear that the north half could have been included in the same time window. They could have had a couple more boom hydro cement busters working on the north side easily. So the bottom line is this will cost about twice as much for the demolition and the freeway will have to be closed again. CalTrans wanted to do it only one time but some of the powerful neighbors on the hillsides did not want to drive a little further while the new bridge was being built to widen the 'parking lot' 405 below. The job was finished 17 hours early in the approx. 56 hours allocated for the job. The contractor shared in the cost savings and his take was $300,000 some media indicated. The non-event will be the big taxpayer cost when they have to do it again for a few million. You won't feel it as Calif is only $28 billion or so in the hole now and was considering issuing IOU script a while back.

07-20-2011, 01:25 PM	#10
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	I thought that despite their car-dependence, California was the home of 'Let's not go there?' Maybe that worked. They're also the home of the 300 car freeway pileup, so it may be just as well if they said, 'Don't drive here while we fix this.'