# L.A. Dopers -- Are you ready for Carmageddon?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 12, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718 "2011-07-12T05:32:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/61 "2011-07-16T00:52:13Z")
Came up yesterday and the f%#\*ers had the Mulholland offramp closed already. 500 signs warning about this weekend, and they can’t spare a line to tell me to get off at Getty? Oh, well, I got a nice tour of the valley.
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### Author:  [@beckwall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckwall)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/62 "2011-07-16T00:59:24Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTbtJmKPYVo)
Dear lord, why can’t I recall how to fix this so the link is underlined and says “Check this out” or something witty.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/63 "2011-07-16T01:18:01Z")
> [@beckwall](#):
>
> [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTbtJmKPYVo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTbtJmKPYVo)
>
> Dear lord, why can’t I recall how to fix this so the link is underlined and says “Check this out” or something witty.
Type in something like this:
{url=“[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTbtJmKPYVo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTbtJmKPYVo)”}Something witty.{/url}
Replace the curly brackets {} with square brackets and the forum software automatically makes a link to the destination whose web address is between the double quotes “”, using the text between the two bracketed sections. It ends up looking like this:
[Something witty.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTbtJmKPYVo)
Alternatively, you can highlight a section of text and press the Link button above the editing window. The browser pops up a dialogue box that asks you to insert the destination web address, and it then builds the same structure with the highlighted text as the link text.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/64 "2011-07-16T01:24:45Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#):
>
> You can even walk up to the museum from the parking lot if you want. We did it once when the train was really crowded. (Actually, my son and I walked while my wife and daughter waited for the train. They passed us just before we reached the top, so my son sprinted the last 100 yard so he could be standing smugly outside their tram car as the door opened.)
Really? For some reason I thought that was forbidden.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/65 "2011-07-16T01:34:43Z")
> [@deb2world](#):
>
> Also channel 5 KTLA is gonna give hourly updates on this tragedy.
Yeah. They’re standing next to the freeway like imbeciles wearing day-glo vests and zooming in on fender-benders as though it were breaking news.
Let the idiocy begin.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/66 "2011-07-16T02:40:18Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> Does anybody know how the bridge is going to be demolished in such a short period of time? Are explosives involved?
No, they’re going to fly two planes into it.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/67 "2011-07-16T02:47:44Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> No, they’re going to fly two planes into it.
Ah, so that’s why those Jet Blue fights are so cheap.
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### Author:  [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/68 "2011-07-16T05:18:59Z")
> [@Asimovian](#):
>
> Are you packing three days’ worth of food and water, just in case? 😉
Heh. I left work at about 5:20 and just _flew_ down the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass. Traffic was incredibly light for a Friday evening. It only got heavy around Torrance, when I started to hit backup from a bad crash in Long Beach.
There were two media helicopters (that I saw) hovering over the Mulholland bridge, as well as a little press campground. Work crews looked like they were staging for a Normandy-style assault on the roads the minute the closure began.
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### Author:  [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/69 "2011-07-16T14:15:08Z")
I walked the dog this morning over to Sepulveda. They’ve got cops at the lights, but the traffic seems to be moving normally. We’ll see what the day brings.
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### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/70 "2011-07-16T14:18:15Z")
This is fun. I’m watching them destroy the bridge with these giant jackhammers mounted on the end of what looks like a backhoe the length of a giraffe’s neck. Two of them are destroying the bridge from the bottom and one is on the bridge itself, there are people running around and crews standing less than 5 feet away from the edge of the bridge being destroyed
One thing that’s puzzling me though, why is there a guy spraying a water hose onto the parts they are jackhammering? Is water supposed to loosen it somehow?
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### Author:  [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/71 "2011-07-16T14:25:10Z")
Probably to keep the dust down.
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### Author:  [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/72 "2011-07-16T16:06:08Z")
I don’t live in LA and have no dog in this fight. I just popped in to say I get to watch the demolition live from my comfortable patio here in Texas.
[405 demolition live](http://www.metro.net/projects/I-405/july-16-17-live-feed/)
Yeah, I’m easily entertained.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/73 "2011-07-16T16:28:25Z")
> [@Cabin\_Fever](#):
>
> Yeah, I’m easily entertained.
Okay, but if you see them make a mistake, are you going to say something?
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### Author:  [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/74 "2011-07-16T19:21:44Z")
We had breakfast in Westwood this morning. It was a ghost town except for all the cops taking a break from protecting us from Carmageddon. I don’t know how the shutdown is affecting the 101 and the 5, but traffic one the west side is better than it is on most weekends.
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/75 "2011-07-17T02:24:55Z")
Having spent time on the 101 very near the 405 both late last night and in the middle of the afternoon today, I’d say most people have decided to stay away from the gloom and doom this weekend. Driving the 101 South from Sepulveda to the 134 is usually pretty busy on a weekend afternoon, but there were hardly any cars on the road.
Meanwhile, there were traffic cops all over the place in and around the intersection of Sepulveda and Ventura Blvd, but they didn’t have anything to do. Street traffic around the 101/405 interchange was somewhere between light and normal.
I’m not complaining.
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### Author:  [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/76 "2011-07-17T04:00:16Z")
> [@guizot](#):
>
> Okay, but if you see them make a mistake, are you going to say something?
Um. Probably not.
“911. What is your emergency?”
“Yeah. I was watching the 405 bridge being torn down on the internet and I thought I saw …”
[Click].
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/77 "2011-07-17T04:08:37Z")
> [@Asimovian](#):
>
> Having spent time on the 101 very near the 405 both late last night and in the middle of the afternoon today, I’d say most people have decided to stay away from the gloom and doom this weekend. Driving the 101 South from Sepulveda to the 134 is usually pretty busy on a weekend afternoon, but there were hardly any cars on the road.
>
> Meanwhile, there were traffic cops all over the place in and around the intersection of Sepulveda and Ventura Blvd, but they didn’t have anything to do. Street traffic around the 101/405 interchange was somewhere between light and normal.
>
> I’m not complaining.
So basically the predicted apocalypse just… didn’t happen? I live right by the 405 in the Valley but don’t get out much and haven’t driven anywhere today.
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/78 "2011-07-17T05:10:44Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> So basically the predicted apocalypse just… didn’t happen? I live right by the 405 in the Valley but don’t get out much and haven’t driven anywhere today.
The high-speed pursuit I’ve been watching on the news since 8pm started in Encino and he breezed through the 101/405 interchange. In a little over two hours, he’s gone from Encino to Norco and back into downtown. He’s pretty much proven there’s no one one the roads.
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-a-dopers-are-you-ready-for-carmageddon/588718/79 "2011-07-17T19:28:00Z")
They’re done and the 405 is open again.
Kudos to the workers and all the people who stayed home!
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