Officials from the city of Los Angeles and Metro finished a news conference a few minutes ago at the city’s Emergency Operations Center in downtown. A few highlights:
•L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa thanked everyone, including the media, for helping get the word out to avoid area roads if at all possible. The mayor said he took a helicopter view of the area earlier this afternoon and saw light traffic around the area.
•LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese said that anyone trying to walk on the freeway will be arrested. It may be empty of cars, but it’s a construction zone and people need to stay away for their safety and the safety of others.
•Officials said they will likely have to be more creative next year in persuading the public to stay out of their cars when the northern side of the Mulholland Bridge will be torn down. They won’t want people to assume it’s okay to drive because traffic has thus far been light this year.
•Officials are also asking anyone attending the soccer game tonight at the L.A. Coliseum or concerts at the Hollywood Bowl to consider taking public transit or carpooling.
Categories: I-405 closure July16-17, Projects, Service Alerts
Redebbm – There were construction and maintenance activities the entire length of the north bound closure all day Saturday. This including activities such as road surface repair, crack filling, grafitti removal and civil engineering survey teams. We can expect similar activities next year as this is a unique opportunity for the contractor and Cal/Trans to get a lot of work done all at once.
It is a freeway under construction and repair, not a playground for bikes and hikes.
When the closure happens next year, they should let people bike up on the 405 in the parts not near the construction. Couldn’t think of a more fun activity to get the minds of people off the actual closure.