Well, That Was Fast: ‘Carmageddon’ Over, Freeway to Reopen Early
- Posted on July 17, 2011 at 2:38pm by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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Crews completed demolition of a bridge over the 405 freeway in Los Angeles far ahead of schedule, reopening the 10-mile stretch 16 hours earlier than expected. (Media credit: Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles mayor says a 10-mile stretch of one of the nation’s busiest freeways will reopen beginning at about 11:30 a.m. because bridge work on the roadway was completed 16 hours ahead of schedule.
There have been no major problems since Interstate 405 was shut down at midnight Friday, despite warnings of the “Carmageddon” of traffic jams.
At a Sunday morning news conference, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa praised contractors for working so quickly and thanked city residents for heeding calls to stay off the roads.
Crews finished demolition work on the bridge at about 7 a.m., toppling two massive pillars.
The California Department of Transportation said earlier Sunday the 405 could be fully reopened as early as 3 p.m. Sunday.
The freeway previously was scheduled to reopen at 5 a.m. Monday, with on-ramps and connectors all open an hour later.
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Comments (51)
lylejk
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 10:17pmJust goes to show if they have the flame to their tail, these guys can get the job done on regular time (they padded the time no doubt to compensate for union ****, but they must have bribed the workers to not go at that rate since they would be penalized otherwise). lol
:)
Report Post »rightwinglefty
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 9:22pmI believe this to be one of those dire events that exist only in the media. It is kind of like the coming attractions for a movie that can never live up to the hyperbole. This could be like Harold Camping’s Day of Judgement or the debt ceiling crisis. Will it live up to the hype, I don’t think so, we will all be alive and well the day after.
Report Post »macnkat
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 7:30pmAs usual, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa never misses an opportunity to get in front of a camera. What a media whore.
Report Post »princessnutsack
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 7:01pmSt. Louis went 2 YEARS without Interstate 64 (known to locals as Highway *****), so I fail to see why it was news when the 410 was closed for 48 hours. Cry me a river.
Report Post »princessnutsack
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 7:04pmor 405………whatever the hell it is. my habit is not to remember highways, by-ways or interstates.
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 8:23pm405 is very important to so cal residents, it’s a north-south artery and is used by everyone in calif at one point or another. Say what you will, but I’d rather drive in California than anyplace else in the nations cities, best sytem of signs anywhere.
Report Post »ArgumentumAdAbsurdum
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 9:00pmWell to the 800,000+ people that use the 405 everyday it’s a big deal
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 6:11pmThis demolition was hyped by the media so the contractor probably used twice the haul trucks and worked continuously changing operators after 12 hour stretches and if any concrete was poured they used fast track quick setting mix design.
Report Post »Also had another crane on standby if any malfunctions occurred. California Dept. of Transportation did a reasonable job of supervision in a squeeze. It’s a good thing that the weather complied.
winwithpat
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 9:17pmYou can bet it wasn’t Caltrans that did the work or it would be closed forever. The Ca. gov. road workers spend more time leaning on their shovels that eating. Working? HA!
Report Post »turkey13
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 9:22amThis is not fair – the contractor used non union people. I would file a greivance if it were me missing out on all that time and a half and double time. The regular contractors need to be reimbursed for missed wages.
Report Post »20skinner
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 6:02pmThis job was completed by a Union contractor and the Members of Operating Engineers Local 12.
Report Post »Cal Trans only provides inspection and engineering. All large highway construction in California is
contracted to the lowest responsible bidder. Non union contractors can bid on these projects but
must pay prevailing wages. Union contractors in California often complete their projects on time and
under budget. The members of Local 12 and Local3 (Northern CA) are some of the most productive
construction workers in the world . The work is hard ,sometimes brutal,and often thankless.
PopModal
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 5:35pmThis was a union job awarded to big donors by city council members. The difference here is it took less than two days to demolish this bridge where under ordinary conditions (demanded by unions) it would have taken three weeks. Who is the big winner here? What this accelerated demolition showed is how fast the unions can do a job if they want to. Typically, in their thuggish manner, they want to drag it out with twice the workforce in order to soak the city of our precious tax dollars. The LA Subway project also was fraught with delays, corruption, and incompetence (due to lack of competition) and resulted in a bigger tax bill than proposed. The worst tax bill is the amount of business small businesses lost during construction. Interesting consequence is that many of these small business go out of business and are bought up by city council crony’s who know the post construction values that are greatly enhanced by infrastructure improvements. To watch this blatant corruption is frustrating and to see how the same corrupt politicians get elected using Union money and resources is equally frustrating.
Report Post »Ibinaround2
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 8:53pmYou sound like a first class idiot that has no knowledge of unions except the propaganda spewed by Fox and wingnut sites. What do you have against other Americans trying to work for a decent wage? You want China’s wages, Mr. “Patriot”?
Report Post »Pastor Ray
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 1:50pmI worked as a union employee over 30 years for the telephone company and they had some of the biggest dead-beats in their membership I’ve ever seen! If you are a token [BWQ] you get away with murder! And it is a real shame!
Report Post »The_Eye
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 6:38pmIbinaround: C’mon…you sound no better than the pro-union propagandists in every other media outlet. this ‘decent wage’ line is such a loaded wad of crap and you know it. ‘Decent wage’ means a lot of things to a lot of different people. Considering the fact that I haven’t heard of a road construction crew that makes less than $20/hr (save for flagmen at $15/hr) I fail to see how $20+/hr is NOT a decent wage. That is well above most average people. Stop the violins from playing buddy.
Report Post »Popmodal made valid points. When you see CalTrans in charge the project takes YEARS. YEARS. The bridge on Colfax avenue in Studio City which is about 100-150 ft has taken 3 years. THREE YEARS and it is still not done. Mind you this isn‘t a large bridge or a super busy street here so it’s not the Golden Gate Bridge they are rebuilding here.
TJexcite
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 4:49pmThey got a huge bonus for being done early. The cost will still be millions over estimates even if it finished early.
Report Post »capitalismrocks
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 4:42pm@ A Doctors Labor —
Precisely… you can’t learn REAL economics, labor, manufacture, etc.. in a class… its not like taking a math course where 1+1=2 and that’s it…
this is a HUGE issue with Liberals in general…. they only look at things on paper, in a sterile, perfect model and just run the figures and say “here, see it all works great!” Yet they never factor in things like defects, weather, delays, poor workmanship, on-site errors and corrections, changes to a design mid-course, cost of materials going up mid-course, sudden “regulations” popping up in the middle of a project, and the list goes on…
Its like Obamacare, it was supposed to be “deficit neutral” — yeah, that lasted I think for maybe 48 hrs after it was passed and then suddenly it was already billions over cost and each passing month we find it more and more and more costly and continues to be.
Competition in a Free Market – putting companies vs companies against one another – the winner comes in the fastest, with the superior product and at a lower cost, that’ss the name of the game.
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 6:39pm@capitalismrocks,
You’ve probably already seen this video, but if you haven‘t I know you’d like it.
The foundational argument is about the origin of money in the only way it could come about (apart from by tyranny).
Smashing Myths and Restoring Sound Money | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAzExlEsIKk
LadyIzShy
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 4:37pmsee what happens when you tell them they will be fined through the nose if they are done late…
Report Post »Voice-O-Reason
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 4:37pmMedia loves Drama, and will invent it where it doesn’t exist if it has to.
Report Post »glennisright.com
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 4:36pmCalifornians can thank their lucky stars that this job was contracted to Kiewit Construction instead of the Caltruns Union. Kiewit was threatened with a $6,000 fine for every ten minutes they were late completing the project past 6 a.m. Monday morning.
Report Post »I think that A) all construction jobs should be done by private contractors and B) construction jobs done by unions should face the same types of fines, since money is the only thing that motivates them.
http://www.glennisright.com
Gehirn
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 5:49pmKiewit is union in california.
It is the Union Leadership that is corrupt not private union companies.
Report Post »The_Eye
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 6:43pmabsolutely. There are far too many projects that go on and on and on…with no end in sight because the people in charge know they’ll just get more money tossed at them and keep their budget numbers up.
I think they should all be put up to bid but also NOT be forced to bid paying ‘union prevailing wages’ if they don‘t want to that just stacks the deck back in the union’s favor. If someone wants to work in road construction non-union for less why not let them?
Report Post »let us prey
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 4:19pmA panel of dbags to explain demolition. Cali should be walled off from the rest of us.
Report Post »The Gooch
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 4:13pmSo the “Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!” routine turned out to be nothing? Nice try, CA. Let’s see which idiot celebrity takes credit for this.
Report Post »Wasn’t Carmeggedon an N64 game? Maybe someone will get sued for using a licensed product… that would be more interesting than this highway roadwork non–story.
deano24
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 9:13pmYou’re thinking about the PC DOS game “Carmageddon”. It was later ported to other game systems. I still have the game for the PC & it was fun to play at the time even with the horrible graphics when it was released in 1995. Apparently Stainless Games are developing a new game call “Carmageddon: Reincarnation” to be released in 2012.
Report Post »The Gooch
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 12:09pmCool
Report Post »AntiLiberal74
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 3:44pmAs it turns out, the highway closure was not necessary as millions of Californians flocked to Mexico for the weekend to dance around the pot blazing.
Report Post »trooper
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 3:41pmCalifornia is like a box of cereal, what’s not Fruits or Flakes are Nuts.
Report Post »olddog
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 3:29pmI guarantee it was not union labor, the unions Don’t finish jobs ahead of schedule, Ever..
Report Post »monkeymom
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 3:46pmYou would be incorrect about that Olddog – all highway work is done by CalTrans, most definitely union labor.
Report Post »RIGHTHOOK
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 4:11pmCalTrans is Union. Carmageddon was an overblown event. Freeways were wide open ironically. They should have one of these events weekly. The media thrives on it………imagine that!
Report Post »Gehirn
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 5:47pmThe contractor was a good strong union contractor when doing work in union states, based out of Omaha, NE. The company is owned by the people that work for them. Self insured and bonded. They will work anywhere and do a great job. They own more equipment then Caterpillar.
It is the Union Leaders that are corupted. Yes caltrans is pseudo union but really just big inefficient govt. The unions/non union companies wish all caltrans work would be disolved in to the union and non-union contractors to bid.
Report Post »mutslie
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 3:25pmah‘ thats nice’……. much easier for illegals & hezbalah to get around at the expense of the taxpayer
‘just a thought…………..THNIK
Report Post »TulsaYeeHaw
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 3:25pmI wonder if they used union labor?
Report Post »wordweaver
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 3:19pmFrom the very beginning, this struck me as way over-hyped. This kind of roadwork goes on all the time in major cities, and they deal with it. No need to use fear like they did in this case to persuade people to make adjustments. Variations on and overuse of the word Armageddon are getting a bit tiresome.
Report Post »capitalismrocks
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 3:14pmSee…. when you make a company responsible for delay and dragging its feet… in this case – $72K an hour in fines, the company not only performs well, it outperforms!
This is why Capitalism works – competition, with risk & reward, its the ONLY way things work….. if this had been another open ended Public Works project – the 405 would’ve been closed for 6 months, been 3 times cost overrun and the city would’ve been demanding more funding to complete it….
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 3:50pm@capitalismrocks,
“This is why Capitalism works – competition, with risk & reward, its the ONLY way things work”
Agreed.
“Capitalism’s about profit and loss – you bail out the losers, there’s no end to the cost.
“The lesson I‘ve learned it’s how little we know. The world is complex, not some circular flow.
“The economy’s not a class you can master in college; To think otherwise is the pretense of knowledge.
Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc
Secessionista
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 2:54pmThe default on the US debt is a similar story – their greatest fear is that Americans might learn that we do not need them in Washington. Think about it – only the politicians are going to lose their jobs if we default. My investments remain sound regardless of the value of a sawbuck. Don’t yours? But Bernanke, Geithner, and Obama stand to lose a LOT.
Report Post »capitalismrocks
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 4:49pmWhy do you think that the very same families who were poor in the 60′s and still in the same places they are today…
Sharpton, Jackson and the Democrats in general talk about helping the poor, more education and blah blah blah and in the end, what comes of it…. more welfare checks, more school lunch and breakfast and NOW they want dinner programs (are these schools or all you can eat buffets with books ?!?!?!) and all I ever see from the likes of Sharpton and “Poverty pimps” is how the poor are put down and not getting “their share”
You don’t see Sharpton running around getting single mothers to meet with the “baby father” and getting the families back together, or having “employment workshops” to get some people real skills and work experience, having clothing drives to get men some suits and women some dresses for interviews, having resume classes to teach people how to write resumes, how to go on interviews and such… teaching people, even if you don’t have a care, you should go get a drivers license, learn to drive with some free courses so people have the skill, to be delivery persons, cab drivers, truck drivers, etc… they can get jobs… where are these things happening by the Democrats… they are NOT and the likes of Allen West, and Cain and others should be working to get these types of shops set up, empower the poor, teach them to stand on their own two feet, the Conservative way, because the liberal way is a dead end…
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 2:48pmOnce again, yet another non-issue way over hyped by the press.
Report Post »Patrick in AZ
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 3:05pmThey took a lesson from Scotty (of Star Trek) – if you need 24 hours, claim it will take 36 so that you look like a genius when you complete it in 28.
Report Post »Cold War Vet
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 2:45pmUnfortunately, “Carmageddon” will not be fully averted until we get rid of Obama and Al Gore. They seem to be averse to the idea that private American citizens should be able to drive cars.
Report Post »solaveritas
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 2:49pmA GOVERNMENT CONTRACT THAT WAS COMPLETED EARLY!!
Report Post »Maybe we should make this a national holiday in recognition of the achievement.
Secessionista
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 2:50pmAll the whining by government officials about what a doomsday it would be to close a freeway for the weekend. I wonder if all this talk of armaggedon if we default on a few debt obligations is also much to do about nothing? Of course, it is, nothing will happen to our investments, the only apocalypse will be for Bernanke and Geithner (and Obama) as they lose their jobs over it. Bring it! My investments are sound, regardless of the value of the US dollar, and regardless of interest rates.
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 2:43pmFinally something in California that worked!. I guess a dead clock is right twice a day.
Report Post »Cold War Vet
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 2:46pmThat’s a good one!
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on July 17, 2011 at 4:38pm@Cold War Vet—Thank you,I’ll be here all week enjoy the shrimp.
Report Post »