'Carmageddon II' Wasn't So Scary Either
Mark Memmott
Monday, October 1, 2012 at 9:21 AM
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All clear: A section of the 405 freeway in Los Angeles was empty while crews worked over the weekend to demolish the Mulholland Bridge.

All clear: A section of the 405 freeway in Los Angeles was empty while crews worked over the weekend to demolish the Mulholland Bridge.

Gina Ferazzi/pool / EPA /LANDOV


For the second year in a row, fears of massive traffic tie-ups in Los Angeles because of demolition work were unfounded. Drivers stayed away from the area and "carmageddon" became "carma-what?"

Last year it was "carmageddon, schmarmaggedon."

This year, our friends at Southern California Public Radio are asking "carma-what?"

Once again, it seems, car-crazy Los Angelenos coped well with a weekend shutdown of a major freeway so that crews would demolish a no-longer-needed bridge.

As Korva wrote on Friday, a 10-mile stretch of heavily trafficked Interstate 405 in Los Angeles was to be shut down for two days over the weekend to demolish part of the Mulholland Drive bridge. And "officials and residents [were] hoping for a repeat performance of a similar closure last year — known as Carmageddon — when much-hyped traffic woes never materialized."

Well, the word from out west is that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has declared "Carmageddon II" a "resounding success." It seems, as Southern California Public Radio reports, that folks took authorities' advice and just stayed away from the area. So, nearby roads did not turn into scenes of gridlock and frustration.

Meanwhile, the work went so well that the highway reopened about seven hours ahead of schedule, the Los Angeles Times adds.

The work is part of a massive, $1 billion, four-year project "to add a northbound carpool lane to the freeway," as the Times reminds its readers.

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.


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