# Carmaggedon



## mklotz (Jul 4, 2011)

Here in Los Angeles we have everything - earthquakes, wildfires, serial killers and the witches of Beverly Hills. But, just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, now we have CARMAGGEDON.

The authorities, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to completely close I405, one of the most heavily travelled freeways in the state, for a staggering 53 hours.

http://blogs.forbes.com/jasonfogelson/2011/07/01/carmageddon-is-upon-us/

This is going to be like the new millenium brouhaha, except for real. I live more than twenty miles away from this area and we've been warned that traffic in our area will be drastically affected. We've been told to stay home if at all possible.

Here are a few shots of the 405 taken from the Getty Museum at about 1400 on a weekday. At rush hour it's a solid mass of traffic.












If you don't hear from me by the 18th, send out the Saint Bernards with the martini filled casks.


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## zeeprogrammer (Jul 4, 2011)

Just makes one's bile come up...don't it?


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## stevehuckss396 (Jul 4, 2011)

Make the best of it. Fire up the BBQ and get the neighbors over there. When the power went out here in the north east we pooled everything in the fridges and started cooking and drinking. Power was on for a few hours before anybody noticed.


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## mklotz (Jul 4, 2011)

stevehuckss396  said:
			
		

> Make the best of it. Fire up the BBQ and get the neighbors over there. When the power went out here in the north east we pooled everything in the fridges and started cooking and drinking. Power was on for a few hours before anybody noticed.



Yeah, and nine months later the birth rate spiked.  Nevertheless, it's a good plan.


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## mklotz (Jul 4, 2011)

Everything's OK now. Captain Kirk is getting the word out via Twitter.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/william-shatner-carmageddon.html

I swear, this is one crazy city state. They're going to close a freeway that sees more than a quarter million vehicles a day and they're relying on brain-dead actors to calm the hoi polloi.


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## Troutsqueezer (Jul 4, 2011)

There's been talk again of splitting California in half. Of course it will never happen but if it was ever put to a vote, I'd vote yes in a heartbeat. There's a reason my avatar specifies where in CA. I'm from. ;D


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## b.lindsey (Jul 5, 2011)

Marv, I heard something this morning on NPR about the closure of the 405 but they were talking abour a billion dollars being spent on a 10 mile stretch of the freeway...hard to imagine spending that much in just 53 hours...even in LA. Is this just the start of more closures or will the additional widening work be done while the freeway remains open?

Maybe the good captain and Scotty can just beam all those cars across the closed section :big:
Bill


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## mklotz (Jul 5, 2011)

Dennis,

Like you, I'm all in favor of splitting the state. Turning all the counties that touch SF bay into a separate state (suggested name: Lounee ) would go a long way to raising the IQ of the remaining part. Even more satisfying would be if Lounee succeeded from the Union.

Bill,

I think they intend to widen the freeway and add an HOV lane in that area. The hill between the Valley and the South Bay is a terrible choke point now and relief is needed. The problem is that, as soon as freeway access is improved, more people move into the area and the congestion reappears.


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## b.lindsey (Jul 5, 2011)

Kind of an "if you build it...they will come" scenaro :big:


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## kcmillin (Jul 5, 2011)

It might take longer than 52 hours. This was taken at 2 O-Clock on a Weekday and there is not a single DOT worker at that job site. :big: :big:

Kel


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## mklotz (Jul 5, 2011)

kcmillin  said:
			
		

> It might take longer than 52 hours. This was taken at 2 O-Clock on a Weekday and there is not a single DOT worker at that job site. :big: :big:



I took the pictures back in May when we were at the art museum - long before the current activity. Still, I hear you. I've often passed two miles of a coned off lane without seeing a single worker. I think the "worksites" are training grounds for our politicians.


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## ChooChooMike (Jul 5, 2011)

A little more background on the freeway closure :

The reason for the I-405 closure for 52+ hours (over a weekend) is to safely demolish a bridge that spans the freeway. That can't be done with the traffic that flows through the Sepulveda pass. Plans are to build a bigger bridege to replace it.

Unfortunately there are no simple ways to detour around this part of the freeway. Yeah, there's some local roads up and over the hills here, but I'm sure residents with raise holy-hell with that. The Hollywood freeway is a 20+ mile detour and going up and through Malibu is no better.

The $1B is not just for the bridge demo, but for the larger project which Marv mentioned - putting in a HOV (*H*igh *O*ccupancy *V*ehicle), otherwise known as a carpool lane, in this stretch of the freeway. 

Many folks consider this a huge boondoggle just for a carpool lane which probably won't have much affect on the traffic, especially as it gets worse every year. They've already widened the 405 by adding in another lane (part of the boondoggle), sound walls, new entry/exit ramps through the West LA area.

There's been talk of double-decking the freeway too, yet another idiotic idea. LA did that on the Harbor freeway for about 5 miles. What a JOKE at $1B+ per mile. So you get to go up on the upper deck only if you're a carpool for a few miles and then merge back into the fray anyway ......

Just think how many machine tools can be bought with that kinda coin  LOL !!

LA put out announcements like this for the 1984 Olympics, suggesting massive traffice problems for the 2 weeks to the Olympics which were spread across venues all around LA. Ya know what ? Most folks paid attention and stayed home. The freeways were relatively empty for those 2 weeks. So, yes it can be done 

Mike


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## mklotz (Jul 5, 2011)

ChooChooMike  said:
			
		

> The $1B is not just for the bridge demo, but for the larger project which Marv mentioned - putting in a HOV (*H*igh *O*ccupancy *V*ehicle), otherwise known as a carpool lane, in this stretch of the freeway.



For the benefit of those unfamiliar with California enviro-speak, I just want to point out that HOV is defined to be *two* or more occupants in the vehicle. (Or, in Hollywood, one human and his inflatable companion.)


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## tel (Jul 5, 2011)

Ah! _Not_ a hovercraft then? *bang*


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## shred (Jul 5, 2011)

Yick, I've driven (well, crawled & inched) that bit of highway a few times trying to get from the 6pm LAX arrival to Valencia before 8...


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## RonGinger (Jul 6, 2011)

Every time I see photos of the traffic it reminds me how much I like living on the coas tof Maine.

My house is just about in the center of this image
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 The water around me is aptly called Pleasant Cove

I have one traffic light in town, about 6 miles away. The next nearest one is 15 miles in the other direction. I get clams and mussels from the southern part of the cove, lobster from the north and out into the river..

Im sure happy all those So. Calif folks like that traffic and congestion, so they stay out there and dont start to crowd the Maine coast. ;D ;D


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## steamer (Jul 6, 2011)

Rof}


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## mklotz (Jul 6, 2011)

RonGinger  said:
			
		

> Im sure happy all those So. Calif folks like that traffic and congestion, so they stay out there and dont start to crowd the Maine coast. ;D ;D



And we're equally happy that you down Easters stay where you are and don't add to our congestion.

How about a picture of what that area looks like in January?


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## steamer (Jul 6, 2011)

Rof}

I don't know about Ron, but here' s a photo from my front porch






but I don't have 250000 cars......Instead..I've got 4 wheel drive and no waiting. ;D

I think a bottle of the appropriate libation and CNN live shots will make the 50+ hours go along just fine Marv.

Think of the entertainment value!


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## ChooChooMike (Jul 6, 2011)

mklotz  said:
			
		

> For the benefit of those unfamiliar with California enviro-speak, I just want to point out that HOV is defined to be *two* or more occupants in the vehicle. (Or, in Hollywood, one human and his inflatable companion.)



In some places in LA, HOV is defined as 3 or more in the vehicle ..... so that translates to 1 human, his inflatable companion and an inflatable sheep  ...... errrr, pet .... :hDe:


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## mklotz (Jul 6, 2011)

steamer,

oooh, white stuff - fie. I spent four godforsaken years in Taxachussetts and I miss it the same way I miss mispronounced vowels. When I graduated I picked job offers by their great circle distance from Boston. 

Nevertheless, I intend to take your advice - make some martinis in the cement mixer, turn on the big screen and wallow in the carnage.


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## steamer (Jul 6, 2011)

That's the Spirit! Think of it as the Great "405" Blizzard of 2011!

Buy irrational quantities of bread and milk, break out the generator to run the AC and your in like Flynn!

They'll be talking about this storm for YEARS!... :big:


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## stevehuckss396 (Jul 6, 2011)

mklotz  said:
			
		

> How about a picture of what that area looks like in January?



Same as it looks in march, and june, and september. What's your point?


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## Tin Falcon (Jul 7, 2011)

I work and more or less live in the infamous North East corridor between Baltimore and NY. I frequently travel on the GS partway I295 I95 NJ turnpike. ect, Early this year a strange combination of the timing of the Christmas and new Years Holidays and a blizzard just about shut down all the major highways in NJ north to south. This was after the blizzard and the roads were clear. It was a bad combination of folks back to work after the holiday , folks traveling home from the holiday and folks out shopping /relieving cabin fever . My opinion of the cause but way too many carrs on the available roads. 2-3 hour back ups seemingly everywhere. My son and i had to go to Connecticut for the day. We left Danbury IIRC around 3pm it was after midnight when we got home taking the back roads . Good luck Marv !!!
Tin


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## Herbiev (Jul 8, 2011)

Why drive around in all that traffic when you could sit in the workshop and RELAX


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## kcmillin (Jul 8, 2011)

Sometimes It takes me as long as 10 minutes to get somewhere from my house, driving close to as many as 3 cars sometimes. Traffic, I tell ya :big: :big:

Ya'll can have your 405's and fancy parkway's, just keep it out of Bismarck :big:

Don't get me wrong though, I like to share, in fact you can come up here and have as much of our winter snow as you like. 

Kel


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## mklotz (Jul 18, 2011)

Autodämmerung (Twilight of the Rods) (carmaggedon to the hoi polloi) turned out to be a non-event.

In a city where it's not unusual to use your car to go to the kitchen for a snack*, we Angelenos exercised a rare patience and stayed off the freeways for a whole two days - and it only seemed like an eternity.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sd0gQyOZcY[/ame] 

Needless to say, such enforced inactivity only increased the sort of insanity that's made us famous - such as "planking"... 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/planking-.html

---
* I have to admit to using my car to get to the other side of a parking lot when shopping two separated stores in the same mall. In my own defense, you have to appreciate the size of some of the mall parking lots around here.


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## mklotz (Jul 18, 2011)

ronkh  said:
			
		

> So tell me, does'nt this just prove that the world is full of w(pl)ankers then?!!?



This from a guy who lives in a country where (supposedly) sober people do stuff like this...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZjLATAUwao[/ame]


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## tel (Jul 18, 2011)

..... and not a Morris Oxford in sight!

At least the onlookers enjoyed it (both of 'em)


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## bentprop (Jul 18, 2011)

Although it looks just like grown men playing hopscotch,you have to admire the symmetry of their pursuit,and the engineering quality of their sticks,whatever they're called ;D


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## steamer (Jul 18, 2011)

I think a few pints were involved ;D


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## zeeprogrammer (Jul 18, 2011)

Drat. No good Marv. I showed this thread to 'T' but she still wants to move to California. Is that house nearby still up for sale?

Won't do me any good though. You're a bit south of the wine country she's interested in. Can you come up with an equality that involves the following variables?

A = Marv
B= 'T'
C = Wine

Hint: 'B' and 'C' are constants.

You cannot use irrationals...they are already accounted for in 'A' and 'B'. No imaginary numbers involved...my state doesn't allow it. And yes, the solution is indeed bounded and closed...but I can't guarantee stable.

Another hint: The solution may involve jelly jars.

I don't suggest using convolution...variable 'A' may become unnecessary to the solution and hence 'superfluous'. Don't let the 'super' get to you.

 :big: Ah yes. I help can't myself sometimes. Love those jelly jars.


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## tel (Jul 19, 2011)

steamer  said:
			
		

> I think a few pints were involved ;D



Ya reckon? Pints of _what_ - RUM?


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## ronkh (Jul 19, 2011)

Gentlemen, (of which I certainly do not feel like I am one at this moment)!!

May I apologise for my earlier crass comment made yesterday. 
There was no intention at all to insult or upset anyone with what I thought was "humour", and which obviously is not that by any means.
Again, my humble apologies.

Ron.


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