July 17, 2011 | 11:30 am

Carmageddon is over: 405 Freeway reopens to traffic [Updated]

Posted LATimes.com

From LATimes.com:

The 405 Freeway officially reopened through the Sepulveda Pass on Sunday morning, hours ahead of schedule.

Officials began removing the barriers blocking the onramps to the freeway around noon.

[Updated at 12:05 p.m.: Officials began allowing southbound traffic to flow, followed a few minutes later by northbound traffic. The move came after officials drove the closed portion of the freeway to look for any debris. They first opened the freeway’s exit ramps, then the entrance ramps.]

Read more at LATimes.com.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky talk about the 405 reopening ahead of schedule.

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July 17, 2011 | 10:44 am

Foot traffic, movie traffic heavier than street traffic on Carmageddon weekend

Posted Pierce Courchaine

Despite the closing of the 405 this weekend, few cars dotted the streets on my way to see “Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows: Part II” at L.A. Live this weekend. In fact, the theater was only half-full even though it was opening weekend for the monster film. On Thursday night, lines were wrapping around the building in anticipation for the film’s opening. On Saturday, I arrived only a half an hour before the screening and had my choice of just about any seat in the theater.

In an attempt to be environmentally conscious, I took public transportation from my apartment in Westwood to L.A. Live. Even the bus system was relatively quiet for a weekend journey. I can only assume most weekenders spent their time locked up in their houses for fear of the mad house that never accumulated on the streets.

Without stop and go traffic and cramped buses Los Angeles felt a lot like, well, anywhere but Los Angeles. This prompted one of my movie-going companions to proclaim that L.A. should destroy a bridge every weekend in order to reduce traffic.

Carmaggedon, in short, never amounted to anything near Armageddon for me. I still went about my normal plans and actually probably had more fun then I normally would have had. 

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July 16, 2011 | 9:50 am

Near collision at Carmageddon closure on Friday night

Posted by JewishJournal.com

At the start of the closure Friday night, one car shift gears into reverse to find the nearest off ramp and avoid the traffic.  Watch for a near collision with several cars, including a big rig.

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July 15, 2011 | 4:00 pm

CARMAGEDDON: Helpful hints and headache relievers

Posted by JewishJournal.com

The ‘bridge to nowhere’ that’s behind Carmageddon
by Pierce Courchaine

Thousands of commuters race past the Mulholland Bridge at great speeds every day. Silent and waiting for its execution date in mid-July, the bridge is rarely appreciated or remembered. More.

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Accommodating the shut-down, Jewishly
by Naomi Pfefferman and Ryan Torok

Due to road closures during the demolition of the Mulholland Bridge on “Carmageddon” weekend, the two major arts institutions located closest to the bridge — the Getty Center and the Skirball Cultural Center, both in the Sepulveda Pass — will be closed on Saturday, July 16, and Sunday, July 17. More.

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Carmageddon is not Armageddon
by Danielle Berrin

Only the city that birthed Hollywood could dramatize a freeway closure the way Los Angeles has these past few weeks. More.

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Top 10 signs you’re stuck in Carmageddon
by JewishJournal.com

Hundreds of vehicles around you, the incessant sound of car horns filling the air, and that overwhelming feeling that maybe you shouldn’t have left the house this morning … confused? You’re probably in the thick of… CARMAGEDDON. More.

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“Ten Carmageddon Commandments” from Rabbi Mark Diamond
by Jonah Lowenfeld

This just in, from Board of Rabbis of Southern California EVP Rabbi Mark Diamond: “And God said (to Elijah):  ‘Go out and stand before (Me), the Eternal, on the mountaintop. More.

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Why Carmageddon won’t happen on Harry Potter’s watch
by Danielle Berrin

You can’t pass a billboard in Los Angeles without seeing the ubiquitous Harry Potter campaign pronouncing, “It All Ends”—- July 15. How ironic then, that L.A.’s Westside will be subjected to its own apocalypse of sorts – popularized as “Carmageddon” – when a dense portion of the 405 Freeway is shut down for three days. More.

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10 Reasons Why Single People Should Love Carmaggedon
by Tamara Shayne Kagel

Unless you’re one of the people in LA with your own helicopter (of which there are a surprisingly high number), you too are likely painfully aware that Carmageddon is approaching.  For weeks now, Los Angelenos have been chattering about the impending doom that is just days away from gripping our fair city.  More.

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The Closure
by Rabbi Ilana Grinblat

On July 16th and 17th, a ten mile stretch of the 405 freeway will be closed for 53 hours. For the past month, the sign on the freeway has been flashing this warning – as if signaling that the end of the world is coming. More.

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Can an app solve L.A. traffic?
by Orit Arfa

While thousands of Angelenos are dreading Carmageddon — the closure of the 405 Freeway for 53 hours — Noam Bardin is looking forward to the challenge. More.

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July 15, 2011 | 1:49 pm

“Ten Carmageddon Commandments” from Rabbi Mark Diamond

Posted by Jonah Lowenfeld

This just in, from Board of Rabbis of Southern California EVP Rabbi Mark Diamond:

“And God said (to Elijah):  ‘Go out and stand before (Me), the Eternal, on the mountaintop. Then the Eternal passed by.  A furious wind split mountains and shattered rocks in the presence of the Eternal, but the Eternal was not in the wind.  After the wind, an earthquake—but the Eternal was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake, fire—but the Eternal was not in the fire.  And after the fire, a still, small voice.”
First Kings 19:11-12, Haftarah for this week’s portion, Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1)

The clock is ticking as we anticipate the shattering of the Mulholland Bridge over I-405.  We yearn for a still, small voice to comfort and calm us on Carmageddon weekend.  To that end, here is my personal survival guide of Ten Carmageddon Commandments:

1. Eat a Shabbat meal on Friday evening with friends and family.  If it goes well, repeat the process on Shabbat afternoon.
2. Read a good book.  I prefer the old-fashioned hard or soft-cover variety.  If you must, read your book on a Kindle or iPad.
3. Walk.  My wife and I take a walk every Saturday afternoon, and it’s a highlight of our Shabbat experience.
4. Meet your neighbors.  They may be nice people.  If you already know your neighbors, you’re part of a privileged minority in southern California.
5. Appreciate the outdoors. There is abundant natural beauty in Los Angeles, so get out there and enjoy it.  This is best done on foot or bicycle, NOT in your automobile.
6. Rest. Take a nap.  Robert Fulghum famously noted, ““Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.”  Sans milk and cookies and a blankie, I try to take a nap on Shabbat, and I commend the practice to you.
7. Support retail businesses in your neighborhood.  All this talk of “get the ___ out of town” strikes me as unpatriotic, un-American, and un-civic-minded.
8. Turn off your radio, television, computer, Blackberry, and/or iPhone whenever Carmageddon is mentioned.  This may require turning them off the entire weekend, which is not a bad idea anyway.  In fact, that’s what Shabbat is supposed to be—an island in time free of the noise and clutter of intrusive technology.
9. Laugh.  Everyone outside Los Angeles is laughing at us right now, so we should laugh at ourselves as well.
10. Chill.  It’s only a freeway closure, not a terminal illness, natural disaster, or the end of the world.  Remember the wisdom of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, who taught:

Kol ha’olam kulo gesher tsar me’od
Ve-ha’ikar lo lefached klal.

“The whole world is a very narrow bridge.
The most important thing is not to live in fear.”

I’m beginning to relish the prospects of the Carmageddon experience.  Can we please do it again soon?

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July 15, 2011 | 9:33 am

Details of Mulholland Bridge Demolition from L.A. Metro

Posted by JewishJournal.com

PRESS RELEASE

The following report has been provided by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority:

Contractors for the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project are planning a precise, carefully orchestrated ballet of workers and machinery to demolish half of the Mulholland Bridge the weekend of July 16-17, not a Vegas-style demolition.

The iconic three-span box girder bridge, standing tall between the canyon vistas connecting San Fernando Valley suburbs with urban Los Angeles’ Westside for more than 50 years will see its southern side steadily chipped away over 53 hours, not 53 seconds. The demolition will be accomplished utilizing the relentless “tat-tat-tat” of jack hammers mounted on heavy equipment, not dynamite.

Besides the sound of demolition in the immediate area, the I-405 in this corridor will be silent for the first time in 50 years.

Kiewit Infrastructure West, the project’s contractor, has been working on aspects of the demolition plan for over a year, and has developed a timeline for the 53-hour demolition which breaks work activity into precise, 15-minute increments.

The contractor will know exactly where it must be in the work schedule in order to safely reopen the freeway for early morning rush hour traffic Monday, July 18. The demolition plan has been meticulously reviewed and approved by project partners Caltrans and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), and is considered the best demolition method available. Throughout the weekend, the contractor will look for opportunities to expedite the schedule.

The demolition timeline will begin Friday evening, July 15 when work crews begin closing freeway on- and off-ramps between the I-10 and U.S. 101 as early as 7 p.m. to prevent additional vehicles from entering into the closure area.

Crews will then begin closing freeway lanes one by one on both sides of the freeway at 10 p.m. in order to achieve a full freeway closure by midnight. The Mulholland Bridge also will be closed. Mulholland Bridge Demolition Work Will be a Meticulous, Painstaking Process.

The area surrounding the Mulholland Bridge will be lit up like the Astrodome utilizing two very large light plants and about 12 regular light plants. Staged in nearby project construction yards and other areas, 15 pieces of heavy construction equipment (with another five on standby) and an army of 100 demolition workers and support staff will be poised to begin their precision operation.

Starting at 12 midnight, trucks will begin to haul dirt onto the 405 freeway underneath the Mulholland Bridge to form a cushion four feet high on the freeway roadbed. The dirt will catch falling debris and prevent concrete pieces from damaging the freeway lanes.

At approximately 2 a.m. Saturday morning, workers will use a large diamond-bladed saw to cut the bridge top deck and soffit to safely demolish the southern half while keeping the northern half structurally sound. Workers also will cut slots in the southern side of the bridge to quicken the demolition process. During demolition work, workers will perform vibration monitoring and other tests to ensure the structural integrity of the northern side of the bridge is retained at all times.

At approximately 5 a.m. Saturday morning, as many as four “hoe rams,” or rolling jack hammers of various sizes will begin to chip away at the south side of the bridge.
Approximately 4,000 tons of concrete will be removed in the first phase of demolition work.

Two Hoe rams will be stationed on the bridge deck starting in the center working toward each end. Once they have reached the ends of the bridge, two hoe rams will begin to work on the ground also starting in the center and working toward both ends. These giant and powerful demolition machines will deliver between 1,200 and 7,500 foot-pounds of power to break away concrete from the bridge. This compares to 90 foot-pounds delivered by a common hand-held jack hammer. Operators in these machines will be able to deliver
between 300 and 600 blows per minute on the concrete decking to break pieces into sizes no bigger than a basketball or microwave oven which can then be easily hauled away from the demolition site.

Later, the concrete will be pulverized and recycled. The bridge’s railing will also be taken down by hoe-ram. Front-end loaders will also be used during the demolition to load demolition debris into trucks.

While the hoe rams steadily chip away at the concrete, other workers using longhandled oxygen/acetylene torches will cut the steel rebar from the bridge deck amid a crackle of sparks. Workers will be tied to a secure anchor and will be wearing fall protection equipment as they work. Workers will continue to cut the rebar into smaller pieces on the ground so that it can also be recycled.

This demolition work is expected to last throughout Sunday, July 17 as crews also demolish the bride’s south columns, leaving the other two columns in-tact to support the north side of the bridge.

Once the demolition operation is complete, an army of laborers will thoroughly clean the edge of the bridge to assure that no particles are left to fall on the traffic below. Finally, the remaining portion of the bridge will be inspected by structural engineers from Kiewit and Caltrans. This demo work is expected to last until 2 a.m. Monday morning, July 18, when crews will wrap up demolition and begin their final cleanup to prepare the freeway for reopening by 5 a.m.

Between 10 and 20 large trucks and several front end loaders will be used for the cleanup. The freeway surface under the bridge will be cleaned by a parade of street sweepers, inspected, and finally restriped with fresh paint. Ramps and freeway connectors will reopen by 6 a.m.

Construction crews will work to rebuild the southern half of the bridge over the following 11 months. Once the southern half of the bridge is rebuilt, traffic will be moved from the northern side to the new southern side, and crews will be ready to demolish the northern side next. A similar, 53-hour closure of the I-405 also will be required to protect public safety during the demolition process. One-half of the bridge must remain open during both bridge phases to ensure residents and emergency responders can access canyon
community areas.

The Mulholland Bridge was built in 1959 by the same contractor that will be replacing it more than 50 years later: Kiewit. The bridge is currently 72 feet wide, 579 feet long and 80 feet high (60 feet from the bottom of the bridge to the 405 roadbed). The new bridge will be widened by 10 feet to 82 feet, and lengthened by 29 feet to 608 feet. Importantly, the location of the new columns will allow for the contractor to build the additional freeway lane underneath the bridge on the northbound I-405. The bridge’s columns were earthquake retrofitted in 1996. The new lengthened and widened bridge will be designed to the latest seismic standards.

The tallest, most iconic of the three overcrossing bridges to be demolished and rebuilt as part of the project (Skirball and Sunset bridges are the other two), the Mulholland Bridge is considered an exceptional representative of mid-20th century California bridge construction due to its graceful lines and slim profile.

Its 235-foot central span was the longest in the Western United States of this bridge type when it was constructed. The new longer and wider bridge will look similar to the existing bridge by design to preserve the bridge’s aesthetic, architectural appeal for future generations.

Information online: Visit the project web site at metro.net/I-405

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July 14, 2011 | 3:01 pm

Zev Yaroslavsky discusses the 405 freeway closure [VIDEO]

Posted by JewishJournal.com

Check out Zev Yaroslavsky’s list of 53 things to do while the 405 is closed.

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July 13, 2011 | 12:05 pm

Carmageddon: The Movie

Posted Jay Firestone and Jeff Hensiek

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