Alternate Routes Likely To Be Jammed Over Carmageddon Weekend
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A planned shutdown of a ten-mile stretch of the 405 Freeway next weekend might just be the reason Angelenos need to stay home as alternate routes are likely to be jammed.
"We believe the streets will be totally gridlocked," Sherman Oaks resident Richard Tyler, who lives near Sepulveda Boulevard, told the Los Angeles Times. "We don't think we will be able to get out... We even wonder how the mailman will get around."
Caltrans crews, who have southbound Pacific Coast Highway narrowed by one lane for a dry season runoff diversion project, are reportedly working to move K-rails and open up the southbound Pacific Coast Highway route for drivers using Topanga Canyon Boulevard or other valley-to-city canyon roads to bypass the mess.
With the possibility that canyon roads will be clogged from Malibu to Hollywood, as well as the surface streets that feed into them, Bruce Gillman of the city's Department of Transportation suggests that motorists stick to freeways.
"If people want to go out and drive, they could be putting themselves into a very frustrating situation," Gilman told The Times.
Other likely trouble spots include Beverly Glen Boulevard, Benedict Canyon Drive, Coldwater Canyon Drive, Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Cahuenga Boulevard. In West Los Angeles, surface streets around junction of the 405 and the 10 freeways also could be jammed.
The affected stretch of freeway between the 10 and 101 freeways is said to be the busiest in the country with about 330,000 vehicles traveling through the Sepulveda Pass daily.
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
