Carmageddon: Hours before closure, freeway is ‘eerily’ empty

Hours before the demolition equipment took over the 405 Freeway, there was no sign of the “Carmageddon” that Angelenos have been dreading for weeks. With most people staying away to avoid the imminent shutdown, the few who remained got to enjoy what Twitter users called “eerily open” lanes and the “quickest Friday commute ever.” Earlier in the day, city and county officials huddled at the Emergency Operations Center in downtown Los Angeles had predicted that this weekend’s freeway closure would go off without a hitch — as long as motorists stay off the road. PHOTOS: ‘Carmageddon’ closes the 405 Freeway “The day is upon us,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared ominously to a crowded room of reporters. A lot of talk about ‘Carmageddon,’ and I expect, because of the unprecedented effort … we believe this will go very, very smoothly, but it does depend on you.” The 405, which carries about 500,000 vehicles on a normal summer weekend through the Sepulveda Pass, will be closed along the 10-mile-stretch from the 101 Freeway to the 10 Freeway as workers batter away at the southern half of the Mulholland Drive bridge and remove some 4,000 tons of concrete — part of a larger, $1-billion freeway improvement project that includes adding a northbound carpool lane. “The worst case is it could be backing up to the 110,” Mike Barbour, Metro’s director for the Sepulveda Pass widening project, said earlier in the day.