405: 'L.A. prepares for worst and hopes for best'

Carmageddon in the New York Times, from Los Angeles bureau chief Adam Nagourney.

You would think that Los Angeles, of all places, would know how to handle a catastrophe.

But in just over a week, 11 miles of Interstate 405 — the north-south spine of the West Side of Los Angeles, which carries 500,000 cars every weekend over the Sepulveda Pass into the San Fernando Valley — is going to shut down for 53 hours, from late Friday night to early Monday morning. No cars, trucks or motorcycles will be allowed, to make way for the latest phase in a $1 billion widening project for a highway that serves as an unhappy second home for commuters during rush hours.

And they are calling it Carmageddon.

More on next weekend's shutdown of the 405 freeway.