LOS ANGELES — The event that many feared would be the “Carmageddon” of epic traffic jams cruised calmly to a finish Sunday, with bridge work on the Los Angeles roadway completed nearly a full day ahead of schedule and officials reopening a 10-mile stretch of the busy freeway.
Drivers honked their horns and waved from car windows as traffic started moving in all 10 lanes of Interstate 405 just after noon for the first time since being shut down at midnight Friday. There were no major problems while the freeway was closed.
The mayor praised contractors for working so quickly and thanked residents for heeding calls to stay off the roads. He also gave credit to news outlets for spreading word about the closure, which was planned for 53 hours.
“We couldn’t have done this without the cooperation of this city,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.
Crews finished demolition work on the bridge at about 7 a.m., toppling two massive pillars. About 4,000 tons of concrete rubble was expected to be removed over the course of the job.
For weeks, authorities warned people that driving as usual over the weekend could trigger what had been hyped as an event that could back up vehicles from I-405 to surface streets and other freeways, causing a domino effect that could paralyze much of Los Angeles.
But the fears of epic traffic jams dissipated with only light weekend traffic.
“It was just so nice. It took me actually less time to get to work than it would have on a normal weekend,” said Jenn Tanaguchi, a hairstylist who has to drive from downtown to her job at a salon in Brentwood. “People were telling me that I would have to leave two hours early, that everything would be blocked out. But there were no problems. It was such a nice ride.”
Officials said during the closure there were 65 percent fewer automobiles on freeways in the L.A. metro area compared with normal weekend traffic.
