Carmageddon: Hours Before The Closure Of The Highway Is A "frightening" Empty
As the crew prepared to close ramps, said few drivers who braved Highway 405 was the "fastest shuttle Friday ever." Officials have planned for the worst, but expect to go "very, very smooth."
Hours before the demolition took over Highway 405, there was no sign of "Carmageddon," Angeleno who feared for weeks.
With most people who stay to prevent the imminent closure, the remaining few to appreciate what Twitter users called "strangely open" corridors and "rapid transit Friday ever."
Earlier in the day, city officials and county nestled in the alarm center in downtown Los Angeles had predicted that this weekend is the closure of a motorway was going smoothly - until motorists to stay astray.
PHOTOS: 'Carmageddon' closes Highway 405
"The day is ours," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, disturbing a room full of journalists.
"We stressed the residents of Los Angeles for three months in Los Angeles is a plan for the future, we hope you listen to our advice," said Villaraigosa. "It 'really dependent on you. Lot of talk about" Carmageddon, and look forward to, because of an unprecedented effort ... We believe that this is fine, really well, but it depends on you. "
The 405, which carries about 500,000 vehicles on a normal weekend was the Sepulveda Pass will close the 10-mile stretch of Highway 101 to Highway 10 as workers in the mass away in the southern half of Mulholland Drive bridge and eliminate about 4,000 tons of concrete - part of a large project to improve Highway 1 billion, which includes adding a lane northbound carpool.
Caltrans, California Highway Patrol and the construction workers started closing the highway at 7:00, they started with ramps, moved to Freeway Connector, and then gradually reduced the number of steps, starting with carpool lanes and ends with the slow lanes.
About 100 participants of the festival, put on some costumes Caltrans, frolicked by the pool overlooking a Courtyard Marriott onramp, where Caltrans workers were real where cones and signs marking the closure.
Traffic cones and trucks equipped with crash cushions should be used to avoid a highway at midnight. Motorists approaching the closure have been redirected to 10 or 101 freeways.
In the worst case scenario, transportation officials are concerned the closure could trigger a domino effect of congestion on surrounding roads and surface streets.
"The worst, it could be a backup on the 110," Mike Barbour, director of Metro Sepulveda Pass larger project, said earlier in the day. "We're talking 20 miles or more significant. It really depends on whether people are away or not."
To cope with the closure, public safety agencies have increased staffing and placed paramedics and firefighters in areas that could be affected. Hospitals, like Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, also took measures to maintain adequate staffing throughout the weekend.
Albanian Kirk, deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, said that response times to emergency situations can be faster than ever, because the teams of the fire, police, emergency and transport have made the most of a dozen areas directly affected by the closure. Have also been identified in dozens of places to land helicopters if necessary.
The closure has prompted residents to organize their social calendar, and to check travel plans. The companies, in particular some of the restaurants on the West Side, offered Carmageddon offers to attract customers, and an airline, discount airline JetBlue added Long Beach and Burbank to jump more than 405 Price: $ 4 places. It 'sold out in a couple of hours.
There are plans to respond quickly to any forest fire, heart attack, emergency or other vaccines. Officials said the road will be completely open on the morning of Monday, but said recently that the possibility of the road could reopen sooner.
