on vacation or business during Carmageddon should consider sticking to public transit, advised travel consultant Borka Grabovac.Īs a consultant at The Travel Network Corp., a Toronto-based travel agency, Grabovac usually advises L.A. commuters via tweet to stay in during Carmageddon and watch his new documentary. He mixed public service with self-promotion by telling L.A. William Shatner, also known as Star Trek's Captain Kirk, also responded.
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"In xchange I would like a free pass on that stoplight tickt IT WAS YELLOW," he tweeted.
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When the Los Angeles Police Department implored celebrities with large twitter followings to help spread the word about Carmageddon, actor Ashton Kutcher was the first to respond.Īs promised, he tweeted about the I-405 closure then asked for a quid pro quo. Waze, a free traffic and GPS navigation app, is being touted by its creators as the ultimate weapon in the pending carpocalypse.ĭespite the doomsday-like warnings, Carmageddon has been met with a fair share of irreverent jokes. Metropolitan Transportation Authority is offering free bus rides on busy routes during Carmageddon weekend.įor the brave Angelenos that are driving, a smartphone application has been created as a "carmageddon resistance" tool. To assuage the nerves of panicked commuters, the L.A. A world-renowned performing arts camp is even delaying its orientation, worried that campers won't be able to make it on time. Some synagogues are shutting down for the weekend. Now that the proverbial warning bells have been rung, residents and businesses are gearing up for the I-405's anticipated closure. Other cities such as New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. INRIX, a national traffic think tank, ranked the City of Angels as the most congested city in America in a 2010 survey - retaining the same spot it had a year earlier. In fact, when it comes to bottlenecks the Trans-Canada Highway has nothing on L.A.'s Interstate 405. Interstate 405 has topped several lists as one of the most congested highways in the world already - which might explain why officials worry that Carmageddon weekend could effectively paralyze Los Angeles.įorbes magazine singled out the infamous freeway in 2007 on a list titled "America's Worst Traffic Traps." residents are well accustomed to gridlock. "Usually, it's already a hassle to get on the I-405."īy now, most long-time L.A. "Yeah, I'm dreading that weekend," said Martinez who drives his Jeep across the freeway at least twice a week. He lives in Mar Vista, a neighbourhood near Venice Beach, which is also precariously close - around three or four blocks - from Carmageddon's epicentre. "I figure if we can get less people on the road that weekend it might actually make a difference."įor Martinez, the cause is personal. "I'm just trying to do my part and spread the word to all my friends," he told CTV.ca. commuters to share I-405 avoidance plans. The 24-year-old customer service representative has created a Facebook event where he encourages L.A. Rudy Martinez also wants to educate the public on Carmageddon. "Plan ahead, avoid the area or just stay home," a smiling Estrada says in the PSA while standing in front of two uniformed police officers and the stark concrete of the I-405. "If you must travel this weekend, please plan ahead," flyers from the California Department of Transportation caution.Īctor Eric Estrada, better known as "Ponch" from the 1980s police dramedy CHiPs, was even recruited to record a Carmageddon public service announcement.
This time the freeway is being closed so road crews can build a 16-kilometre carpool lane, which, ironically, is being created to ease congestion.Īnticipating larger-than-life gridlock, city officials started warning residents about the closure a month ago. Massive roadwork is set to hit the I-405, a major north-south thoroughfare in Los Angeles, which is already notorious for construction-related bottlenecks. In other words: "Stay the heck out of here" as Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky told reporters at a news conference near the future site of Carmaggedon. The looming 53-hour road closure has been dubbed "Carmageddon," the traffic jam to end all traffic jams.Īntonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, has asked citizens to head for the Hills - or San Fernando or Long Beach - anywhere, really, as long as they steer clear of Interstate 405.
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Turn off your engines, cancel your carpool plans and flee the freeway because gridlock is nigh.Īt least that's what Los Angeles officials are telling drivers to do when part of the city's main artery shuts down for construction on the July 15 - 17 weekend.
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