Carmageddon

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by agrimmitt

If anyone thinks the road work will be done on Monday morning, :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I would not be surprised to see the work going into Tuesday.

On the news last night: the contractor will be fined $72K for every hour that completion is past the deadline.

There's your motivation, huh?

[KevinP73]

[KevinP73]

[KevinP73]

All pics courtesy of Jeff Hailpern

[nostatic]

20 min from Santa Monica to Torrance for the wedding gig. 20 min coming back. Zero traffic backups. Way lighter than a typical weekend. Thank gawd for psyops.

[widgeon13]

So the entire thing has been overblown by the media

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

So the entire thing has been overblown by the media

Not really. Half a million vehicles use that 10-mile stretch of 405 on a typical weekend day.

People adjusted. I guess you could say the publicity did what it was designed to do.

[tevake]

I would not like to operate one of those machines out over that open span, talk about sawing off the branch!

[RWebb]

they should hire AQ to blow it up

[edgemar]

drove from getty cntr south with nobody on the road in the middle of the day...very weird...

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Just got home from Long Beach. Took the 405 north to Century. Really strange. NOBODY out on the roads today. Guess everyone listened.

[Noah930]

‘Reckless Driver’ Leads Police On Chase From San Fernando Valley To Ontario
July 16, 2011 8:28 PM
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(credit: CBS)
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10 Freeway, 101 Freeway, CHP, DUI, Pursuit, Suspect
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LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A suspect who officials said was driving recklessly and at high speeds in the San Fernando Valley, is leading law enforcement agencies on a chase Saturday evening.

The chase started in the Valley, on the 101 in Encino, about 8 p.m., according to authorities.

Stu Mundel, reporting overhead in Sky9, said the suspect well exceeded the speed limit “numerous times.”

Police, he said, considered a PITT maneuver early on but declined due to safety concerns for the public.


About a half hour into the pursuit, the suspect switched to the Eastbound 10 Freeway. He then went on the Southbound 605 and then went on to the 60.

Due to many motorists staying home, with Carmageddon fears, the suspect had wide open lanes for much of the pursuit.

At least 6 patrol cars were in pursuit. The LAPD began the pursuit and after about 30 minutes the CHP took the lead.

There are reportedly “at least two” people in the car, say officials.

Suraya Fadel, reported alongside the chase in Mobile9.

[slodave]

I was bored.

[john70t]

Dude, he could have jumped that thing.

[Wilhelm]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

So the entire thing has been overblown by the media

I am sure what you meant to say was that the "Mainstream Media" did a good job by getting the word out. Right ?

[mikester]

I'm using carmageddon as an excuse with my wife to stay home for the weekend. She's not but I am.

=-)

I will speak up for LA's transit. It sucks that taking the bust from one end of LA to the other can take upwards of 2-3 hours. It's bad but that is THE BUS. In most cities there are multiple forms of transport getting from one end of the city to the other. The bus is not the means you would normally use for a longer excursion. Normally it would be some sort of light rail but in LA the light rail that exists really isn't much faster than the bus - just look at the time tables. I've never been able to justify using it. Further there is nothing that goes from LA to Orange County and again nothing from LA to Ventura or really anywhere except Riverside (I think?).

So if you have shortish hop you can make it on the bus - just don't be in a hurry. There are a few quicker solutions. There are the commuter express buses which ARE much faster than a regular bus. They have limited stops and a specific destination. When I Was working downtown I could take that bus to my office downtown in 20 - 30 minutes. Seriously, I was the last stop between the South Bay and Downtown so it was friggin awesome. Coming home was just as nice. The train would have taken over an hour. There is also in LA proper the 'Rapid which is faster with limited stops along major routes. I've used it as well as Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus. There are a lot of different Transit authorities in LA county - too many in fact. Each City has their own and they don't all share passes. So if you never want to leave Santa Monica - the Big Blue Bus is right for you. If you never want to leave LA - 'Rapid is the way to go...etc.

There isn't a good cohesive solution and the light rail is a joke. I wish I could take light rail down to OC - it would be great for my commute with some of my customers or heading to our Irvine office.

[varmint]

Originally Posted by speeder

I'm glad to hear that you left. You've done your part to make L.A. a better place. Have you ever actually ridden a bus in Los Angeles? Was it in the last 30 years? I have, (on occasion), and found them to be as clean or cleaner than buses in other major U.S. cities or in Europe. Seriously. And the subway cars are probably the nicest and cleanest in the country. probably because they're the newest by about 100 years.

On the rare times that I'm without a car and need to get somewhere, I do not think twice about walking up the street and jumping on a bus. Los Angeles is of course a very huge and spread-out place, so it's not like you can get anywhere in town quickly on mass transit. But that's also true of car travel, depending on the destination and distance. For the places I usually go, the mass transit works great here. But then I choose to live in the city proper for its access to the areas where I usually hang-out and work. I'm never on the 405 unless it's actually the best way to get where I'm going at some particular time.

can't believe i'm in an argument with an imbecile who thinks mass transit is "excellent".


my last experience with a bus was probably 2001. several things went wrong all at once and i had to commute for almost two weeks by bus. hollywood to santa monica. never less than two hours, standing all the way. packed like sardines with people who smelled godawful.
if i worked late i'd miss the "express" and the trip home would take even longer. then there was the rolling homeless shelter aspect. muttering street lunatics, junkies, people who wanted to talk to me about their religions. and did i mention the smell?

and all of this was through some of the "good" parts of town.


the worst thing i can think to say to you is- i hope you live in los angeles the rest of your life.

[widgeon13]

So people did pay attention for once.

[techweenie]

Big time. I made two round trips to the Valley on Friday -- something I would never normally contemplate. Wide open freeway through the pass at noon, and at 3, closer to normal. Saturday, needed to go South from the Venice onramp, and it was super light -- 70 all the way. Same coming back.

LA used all the media available. They even had Ashton Kutcher and Lady Gaga tweet about it. Literally everyone knew. It's relatively normal on surface streets, so everyone didn't stay home; most just avoided the freeways.

Here's a shot for the scrapbook: headed South on the 405 from the 101 toward the Mulholland overpass at 7:35PM on a Friday. It won't be like this until they close again to tear down the other half of the bridge.



There's a very cool bicycle coalition event all weekend at the Helms Bakery complex. I'll probably ride over there later. Upcoming Events | LACBC

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by techweenie

There's a very cool bicycle coalition event all weekend at the Helms Bakery complex. I'll probably ride over there later. Upcoming Events | LACBC

Ooh. I'm a fan of the Room & Board there.