Epic traffic fears disappear as LA freeway reopens

Source: AP

By DAISY NGUYEN and CHRISTOPHER WEBER

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The event that many feared would be the "Carmageddon" of epic traffic jams cruised calmly to a finish Sunday, with bridge work on the Los Angeles roadway completed nearly a full day ahead of schedule and officials reopening a 10-mile stretch of the busy freeway.

Drivers honked their horns and waved from car windows as traffic started moving in all 10 lanes of Interstate 405 just after noon for the first time since being shut down at midnight Friday.

There were no major problems since the freeway was closed, and the biggest worry of all - that the work would spill into the area's always rough Monday morning commute, was set aside.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa praised contractors for working so quickly and thanked city residents for heeding calls to stay off the roads. He also gave credit to news outlets for spreading word about the closure, which had been planned to last for 53 hours.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110717/D9OHMNGO2.html

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Street sweepers take over after the demolition of two lanes of the Mulholland Bridge in Los Angeles, just after sunrise Sunday, July 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

The 101 Freeway is horrible! Pot holes everywhere. At least they're doing something on the 405, though.

was being constructed. Since then no major repairs that I recall - OR earthquake refittings. And we've had at least two big ones since then (1971 and 1994). It's about time. It's BEYOND time. Glad they did it! That's some of the stimulus money and it did put people to work around here. Still going on. The freeway refurbishment isn't expected to be completed til 2013. But evidently this is the only major bridge-bashing event that was scheduled that would require the whole freakin' freeway to be shut down.

AHA! Just saw the post farther downthread (by DUer msongs) says this is gonna happen again in eleven months, to allow them to fix the other half of the Mullholland Bridge that they worked on this weekend.

Traffic all over here has been an absolute breeze! All weekend! Whooda thunkit? It's been great! People have been posting on Facebook asking Mayor Villaraigosa to do this more often - even as often as every week.

I drove from the San Fernando Valley to Orange County today (Sunday). Because of the 405 closure, I took the 101-S and I-5.

Traffic was about the lightest I've ever seen it, going and coming back.

sort of thing, provided we have enough advance notice to plan around it.

we locals will have plenty of advance notice.

Totally impressed with how they got the word out to motorists and that they finished early. Well done!

If only we'd spend money like this around the whole country, instead of blowing shit up in a lawless domain that would rather live in the stone age!

to monumental traffic jams or get stuck in one. So it worked out just like they hoped.