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Los Angeles is bracing for “Carmageddon II,” as a key stretch of highway is closed this weekend - but the lack of problems during the first shutdown is fuelling hopes of “Carmaheaven” instead.
A 10-mile (16-km) stretch of the Interstate 405, or San Diego Freeway, is closed from Friday evening until tomorrow morning, to complete work on a bridge started during the first closure in July 2011.
Apocalyptic warnings were issued before last year’s shutdown on the 405, one of America’s busiest freeways and a key LA commuter hellhole, made famous when former professional American football player O.J. Simpson was followed live along it in a low-speed car chase in 1994.
Some predicted the kind of traffic chaos brought by the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
But faced with those dire warnings famously car-obsessed Angelenos steered clear of the problem, or even - shock, horror - left their vehicles at home, producing a surprisingly traffic-free weekend.
Officials voice confidence that the same will happen this weekend, as workers finish off what they started last year on Mulholland Drive Bridge.
“We are 100% sure that this Carmageddon II is going to go off just as well as it did last year if we have the cooperation of the public,” said Caltrans highway authority official Mike Miles.
Signs to avoid the Sepulveda Pass - a key route between the sprawling LA basin and the San Fernando Valley to the north - have been posted for weeks on routes around the area, and authorities are crossing their fingers.
The closure began at 7pm on Friday (0200 GMT yesterday), and the road is due to re-open from 5am (1200 GMT) tomorrow.
“If you absolutely have to drive, plan ahead. Take some extra water with you, take some provisions, take some food. Take your medications with you if you have to be out on the road,” said Miles.
“Because if you do get caught in a traffic jam, it could be for hours.”