<p>A post on another thread reminded me that in the LA area the 405 freeway will be shutdown on the weekend of July 15th. My friends who live in the area are calling it carmaggedon and that is appropriate. If you are from out of the area and were thinking of doing college visits that weekend I would advise against it.</p>
<p>Seriously good advice.</p>
<p>LOL, ebeeeee! There is an ongoing carmageddon in the greater Seattle area: the 520 floating bridge will be getting toll readers, and then construction of the new bridge will begin. The Viaduct in the downtown area will be demolished, and, pending another vote or two (or three?) will be repleced with a tunnel… This might not affect college visits here in the Puget Sound area, but it surely adds time to travel to and from the airport (one day it took me 80 minutes :eek: to get from the airport to work (13 miles)), so visitors to WA need to plan accordingly.</p>
<p>My daughter will be cut off from me that weekend by the closure and it’s her birthday. She seriously thinks I’m somehow going to get together with her that weekend.</p>
<p>BB, at least they claim this is only one weekend. I am scheduled to fly out of LAX to go see my son but luckily I booked 7/21 without even knowing about the carmaggedon. That was the reason for my post, until I went to LA last weekend and saw the signs on the freeway I was unaware of the issue. (I am about two hours north of LAX).
Around Boston they still rue the Big Dig fiasco…
mimk6 your D should think about getting out of town before the closure and returning after.</p>
<p>We are scheduled to drive from SoCal to Pebble Beach on Monday July 18th and are worried how the closure will effect other freeways. The horses from D’s barn are suppose to leave for PB around 10 pm on the Sunday night. We will be keeping a close eye on the traffic reports before heading out.</p>
<p>We are flying into LA on the 15th – no choice as to dates, this is business not pleasure or college shopping. My husband is flying into LAX and I’m flying into Long Beach, and we have to get to a hotel downtown, taking shuttles. Should we be prepared for this to take many many hours and load our iPods up with lengthy podcasts? And should I plan on not being able to get anywhere in LA on Sunday?</p>
<p>The worst will be going to and from the valley, which is north. You will be going east (ok, some north but not into the closure).</p>
<p>Oops, we’re flying in on Saturday the 16th. And I just checked the Getty Museum website; it’s closed that weekend because of the construction. Sigh. I may never get to the Getty.</p>
<p>DD cannot leave town, her location is work-related and she works during that weekend as well. She’s living on-site training others. We decided to do her and her brother’s birthday the following weekend. She should have some friends down there she can celebrate with.</p>
<p>mimk6, good plan. I don’t have any great advice for the rest of you but at least your are forewarned. There is another thread on the closure that links to a website that may offer more detail information on alternate routes, etc.</p>
<p>If you’re going to be visiting the area, check out I-405 Sepulveda Pass Widening Project on facebook. The updates are a bit terse, and might be a bit cryptic to the non-residents, but it’s a useful resource. The updates can also be read as a twitter feed. </p>
<p>fireandrain, how about going to the Malibu Getty? Another option would be driving up to Pasadena and touring the Huntington Library (which has amazing gardens) and the Norton Simon (a very nice impressionist collection). Or stay downtown and check out the new museum at Olvera Street, which is getting great reviews. Metro tickets are supposed to be free that weekend, so you could take the metro up to Pasadena and then take a taxi.</p>
<p>We could get lucky and repeat the 1984 Olympics experience-- when everyone stayed home for fear of gridlock and the roads were wide open.
But no one I know expects that to happen. </p>
<p>The alternate routes will have to accommodate all those drivers who normally take the 405-- so I would not recommend any sight seeing trips on the Westside (including the Malibu Getty on Hwy 1). I’m crossing my fingers for those of you who are flying in and out of LAX.</p>
<p>Before you hit the road in LA, be sure and check out [Sigalert.com</a> Los Angeles Traffic Map](<a href=“http://www.sigalert.com%5DSigalert.com”>http://www.sigalert.com) . Great for real time specific traffic .</p>
<p>The LAX FlyAway buses to Van Nuys (the San Fernando Valley), Irvine (Orange County) and Union Station (downtown) will be operating under their normal schedule during Carmageddon. There’s no mention if the Westwood (UCLA area) bus will be operating under any schedule that weekend. </p>
<p>Of course, by “normal” they caution that there may be 1-2 hour delays and people should plan accordingly. (cue ominous music) :eek:</p>
<p>My son has a sports tournament that Saturday in Santa Monica. We’ll be coming from the Valley. Hopefully they will reschedule it!</p>
<p>I think we’ll see a repeat of the Olympics phenomenon. With so much worry and warning, no one who does not absolutely have to be on the 405 or alternates will be. It’s a weekend, so most commuters and UCLA students/faculty will stay away for sure. </p>
<p>I planned all athlete transportation for the '84 Games, and believe me–if we had any idea the reaction from L.A. commuters due to all the horror stories printed in the newspaper, we’d have scheduled our athlete buses with less rush-hour pad. It was very smooth sailing for all four weeks.</p>
<p>Just saying. I’m an optimist. Good luck to all. (I’m staying off the roads to help out.)</p>
<p>meanwhile, here’s the latest word from the pessimists: [405</a> closure: Hospital leaders alarmed at plan for July weekend freeway shutdown - Los Angeles Times](<a href=“http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/25/local/la-me-405-hospital-20110625-1]405”>Plan for 405 shutdown alarms hospital leaders)</p>
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<p>What’s your plan? The 101 to the 110 to the 10? Or over Topanga Canyon?</p>
<p>Probably the 5 to the 170 to the 101 to the 110 to the 10. Hopefully we can just stay home!</p>