

The $350 million project will provide 13 miles of continuous carpool lanes through a notoriously congested roadway that 230,000 vehicles traverse daily.Īs they did in 2012, transit officials will be posting freeway signs 50 miles or more away warning people to exit the 5 before they get to Burbank. Tai Vong of the California Highway PatrolĪs Interstate 405 was, Interstate 5 is being closed as construction workers tear down a bridge so they can widen the freeway and add a pair of carpool lanes. And the mass traffic chaos everybody predicted never materialized.” - Capt. “We’ve been through this … with Carmageddon. “And the mass traffic chaos everybody predicted never materialized.” ”We’ve been through this … with Carmageddon,” Vong continued, noting how in 2012 the hundreds of thousands of people who normally use Interstate 405 every day just went elsewhere. The $350 Million Project Will Provide 13 Miles of Continuous Carpool Lanes “So if you absolutely do not need to be on the I-5 Freeway in this area during the closure, please just stay away. Tai Vong of the California Highway Patrol. “There is large potential to affect not only traffic in the Burbank area but in the greater Los Angeles area,” said Capt. That’s what officials were hoping will happen again when they scheduled a news conference Thursday on a hilltop parking lot in Burbank overlooking a section of Interstate 5 that, not surprisingly, was jammed with traffic. In the end, the traffic jams that officials feared could have gridlocked the entire city that weekend never materialized as people got the word and stayed away.

He was referring to the 2012 event that came to be known widely as Carmageddon for fears it would cause traffic chaos. “This will be the largest freeway closure in Los Angeles since September 2012 when we closed Interstate 405 in both directions,” John Bulinski, the state Department of Transportation’s local director, said Thursday. April 27, just ahead of the Monday rush hour. If all goes as planned it will reopen at 3 a.m. Governor signs law to make California home to nation’s first truly high-speed railĬNN’s Michael Martinez and Kyung Lah contributed to this report.“This will be the largest freeway closure in Los Angeles since September 2012 when we closed Interstate 405 in both directions.” - John Bulinski, the state Department of Transportation’s local directorĪ section of the heavily traveled interstate, which carries traffic up and down the length of the state, is scheduled to be closed for 36 hours in both directions starting at 3 p.m. Self-driving cars now legal in California “We did not anticipate this, although it’s not unusual for a big piece to come down like that.” “On an operation of this size, of this magnitude, pieces come down of all different sizes and shapes,” Dan Kulka of Kiewit Construction told CNN affiliate KABC. The project did see an unscripted moment Saturday, when a section of the famed 50-year-old Mulholland Drive Bridge – a fixture in the Los Angeles freeway-scape – narrowly missed workers demolishing another part of it.Ĭrews had planned to take down part of the bridge to make room for a wider roadway.
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The massive transportation project’s main aim is to install what Villaraigosa said would be the “longest … carpool lane in the nation” on the oft-packed highway. It also stretches into the well-to-do neighborhoods of west Los Angeles, such as Bel Air and Brentwood. The 405, as it’s locally called, connects suburban San Fernando Valley with Los Angeles International Airport.
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‘Carmageddon,’ the sequel: So far, Los Angeles drivers staying home “That hope and expectation came to be realized.” “Our hope and expectation was that it would be Carmaheaven 2,” Villaraigosa said, noting that a weekend-long highway shutdown last year had proceeded without a hitch, despite dire forecasts. But overall, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared the project a “resounding success.”

Southern California officials had dubbed the project “Carmageddon II.” But the nightmare traffic tie-ups that prompted the fittingly Hollywood-worthy name did not materialize as motorists either stayed home or chose alternate routes.Ĭalifornia Highway Patrol said it cited three people who tried to enter the closed section of the freeway early Sunday. The latest phase in a massive project that led to the weekend closure of a large swath of Interstate 405 ended hours ahead of the Monday morning commute. Southern California motorists honked their horns cheerfully as authorities reopened 10 miles of the nation’s busiest highway ahead of schedule late Sunday night.
