Of Carmageddon

This weekend, the San Diego Freeway (405) will be closing a 10 mile stretch for nearly 53 hours, potentially creating the worst gridlock the history of fucked L.A driving.

The highway is scheduled to be closed while Kiewit International will be demolishing part of the Mulholland Bridge, part of a $1.2 billion widening project to add lanes to heavily travelled freeway portion in the Sepulveda Pass. Kiewit happens to be the same company who built the span some 50 years ago. Replacement of two of the three bridges in the area (at Sunset Blvd & Skirball Center Dr) has been underway for many months, and the simplest plan was to demolish and rebuild the bridges one side at a time. But the Mulholland Bridge, which is significantly larger, had it's replacement built alongside the original, and not the old one will be demolished.

Beginning Friday night, the northbound freeway will be closed between the Ventura (101) and Santa Monica (10) freeways. The southbound freeway will be closed from the 101 Freeway to Skirball Center Drive. Roughly half a million vehicles travel that route through the Sepulveda Pass on an average weekend day. The freeway and all ramps are expected to be reopened to traffic by 6 a.m. Monday. Let's stress expected.

Kiewit will be fined $6,000 for every 10 minutes each side of the highway is not open after 6 a.m. That figure was derived by Caltrans as representative of the cost to the public for each minute of delay - that's up to $72,000 an hour if the freeway does not reopen on time. Herr Docktor was quick to point out what a pittance that is compared to what they're earning for the project, but if they don't want their crews to be brutally murdered by the roadside by drivers, they should think twice before missing that deadline.