LBJ Freeway is facing the first of many coming weekends with lane closures and slowdowns. News 8's David Schechter spoke with Michal Habdank about the WAZE traffic phone application and how it can be used to help users and others avoid snarls.
With traffic jams a certainty during the overhaul of Interstate Highway 635 in Dallas, developers of the LBJ Express project are promoting a mobile application to help drivers detect and avoid back-ups.
LBJ Express has partnered with developers of the WAZE mobile application. The free app for smartphones and tablets calls itself “a social mobile application providing free turn-by-turn navigation based on the live conditions on the road.”
WAZE currently has 6 million users worldwide, including 65,000 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, said Michal Habdank-Kolaczkowski, WAZE director of communications.
By using GPS, WAZE tracks users routes and speeds and feeds the information into its databases. The readings are anonymous. Users can also report traffic issues via their phones.
“The community really is the essence behind the application,” Habdank-Kolaczkowski said.
He said WAZE will also update its maps with road closures associated with the LBJ Express project, such as pending bridge demolitions.
Andy Rittler, corporate affairs director for the LBJ Infrastructure Group LLC, said the road builders did not sign a financial contract with WAZE. The parternship is “based on mutual benefit,” he said.
With traffic jams a certainty during the overhaul of Interstate Highway 635 in Dallas, developers of the LBJ Express project are promoting a mobile application to help drivers detect and avoid back-ups.
LBJ Express has partnered with developers of the WAZE mobile application. The free app for smartphones and tablets calls itself “a social mobile application providing free turn-by-turn navigation based on the live conditions on the road.”
WAZE currently has 6 million users worldwide, including 65,000 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, said Michal Habdank-Kolaczkowski, WAZE director of communications.
By using GPS, WAZE tracks users routes and speeds and feeds the information into its databases. The readings are anonymous. Users can also report traffic issues via their phones.
“The community really is the essence behind the application,” Habdank-Kolaczkowski said.
He said WAZE will also update its maps with road closures associated with the LBJ Express project, such as pending bridge demolitions.
Andy Rittler, corporate affairs director for the LBJ Infrastructure Group LLC, said the road builders did not sign a financial contract with WAZE. The parternship is “based on mutual benefit,” he said.
DALLAS - At worst, it's being called North Texas' own 'carmageddon.' At best, it's going to be inconvenient. The road closures scheduled for this weekend on LBJ Freeway will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday. Traffic will be reduced to one lane going eastbound between Marsh Lane and Webb Chapel Road. Crews will be demolishing the Joe Ratcliff Pedestrian Bridge. First, they will close the eastbound lanes and then reopen them as they move to the westbound lanes. Traffic will then be reduced to one lane westbound along the same stretch of LBJ. Traffic should be back to normal by noon Sunday if everything goes as scheduled. This is the first of six weekends of construction work scheduled for crews planning to demolish four bridges along the LBJ Freeway. The road closures and detours will vary each time. The construction work is all related to the LBJ Express Project. Crews are adding high-speed toll lanes to double the freeway's capacity for traffic. It's already one of the busiest roads in the nation. The remodeled freeway is expected to be completed by 2016.
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DALLAS - This was supposed to be the first of many congested weekends on LBJ Freeway as the construction project on 635 begins. Drivers will not have to deal with traffic this weekend, but only because of a delay in the just-underway construction project.The demolition of the Joe Ratcliff Pedestrian Bridge between Marsh Lane and Webb Chapel Road over the freeway was delayed. However Trinity Infrastructure, the contractor in charge of the project, said the delay is no reason to lose faith in the project."I would think that this delay would actually instill a little bit more confidence in this project," said Lara Kohl, a Trinity Infrastructure spokeswoman. "We take this very serious. We've done a lot of analysis by a couple of different parties about this construction phase and this demolition phase, and even the slightest bit of concern caused us to take a little bit more time and look at this process."Though the bridge is smaller than a regular car bridge, Kohl said it is trickier to demolish.Three weeks ago, neighbors came out to say goodbye to the bridge, which helped kids cross the freeway to go to school for four decades.The new bridge is scheduled to be completed in January of 2012 and a Trinity Infrastructure spokesperson said the bridge would be done on time.
Of course, we all want to shave time off your commutes by getting around major delays. Now, there's an application for that.
It's new, revolutionary and free.
WFAA has partnered with WAZE traffic network with an application that essentially does the thinking for you. It tracks your drive and any delays you encounter, while collecting real time traffic data from other members of the WFAA traffic spotters community who are already on the road.
So, look at what happened when we got the behind the wheel to put the new app to the test.
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Download Waze to your smartphone FREE, and join other members of The Carmageddon Resistance out there on the road. |
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Enlarge Reed Saxon/APLos Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (left) and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky hold souvenir concrete chips as they celebrate the demolition of two lanes of the Mulholland Drive bridge over I-405 ahead of schedule Sunday.
Reed Saxon/APLos Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (left) and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky hold souvenir concrete chips as they celebrate the demolition of two lanes of the Mulholland Drive bridge over I-405 ahead of schedule Sunday.
Los Angeles officials have reopened a major interstate freeway that was closed for construction. Fearing traffic jams of epic proportions, many drivers stayed off the roads over the weekend. But cars were back on Interstate 405 a day ahead of schedule.
At noon Sunday, the first cars and motorcycles of the weekend drove honking and cheering through a stretch of I-405 that was closed at midnight Friday. It was originally scheduled to be reopened Monday morning, but construction crews finished demolishing a bridge to make way for a new car pool lane 17 hours earlier than expected.
"Carmageddon, schmarmageddon," said L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who had coined the term "Carmageddon" to warn Angelenos of possible traffic nightmares due to the freeway closure.
But many of the streets and freeways were blissfully empty much of the weekend.
"A lot of people in Los Angeles have learned you can get along without taking long rides in their cars on weekends this past couple of days," Yaroslavsky said.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the early reopening saved Los Angeles $400,000 in construction costs.
"The people of this town didn't get in their cars, they stayed home or walked to wherever they wanted to go in their neighborhood, and as a result, this has gone much better than anybody could have imagined," Villaraigosa said.
Police and fire crews had been poised to respond to any emergency caused by the closure, but the only incidents that happened were minor.
"A couple of cyclists, a jogger and maybe a skateboarder or two. There may have been a total of eight — just people that were overly curious and wanted to trespass on the freeway," said L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck.
Before the freeway reopened, Mark Kramer brought his baby boy and took photos of the empty freeway.
"It just being so quiet, it really is surreal," Kramer commented.
Amy Haim, her husband and two young daughters also watched the construction crews finish up. "They did a great job," Haim said. "I mean, look. We can follow directions. Angelenos, we stayed out of the way. Who doesn't want to zip around L.A. with no traffic and everyone's in a good mood? I thought it was fabulous."
Around the city, some people took public transportation and celebrated the event with Carmageddon parties.
Jet Blue took passengers like Ezra Horn from Burbank to Long Beach on flights that cost just $4.
"The pilot told us the flight was going to be 22 minutes but he's going to try and do it in 14," Horn said. "He ended up doing it in 12. And if you look at the flight path, he actually flew in an S shape to fly the whole plane over the 405 freeway to give everybody an eyeful of the empty freeways."
On Saturday, five bicyclists calling themselves Wolfpack Hustle even raced against the plane. They rode for nearly 39 miles, mostly on bike paths along the Los Angeles River.
One of the cyclists, actor John Budnoff, said they started out from North Hollywood when Horn left the airport at 10:50 a.m. "So Wolfpack got there at 12:24 and the plane landed at 12:51. We just annihilated them so bad," he said.
Budnoff and his teammates say they wanted to prove that cycling in L.A. is definitely a viable means of transportation.
Many Angelenos said they wish the freeway was closed like this every weekend. They'll get another chance to try beating Carmageddon in 11 months, when I-405 closes again to finish the construction project.
By Subha Ravindhran, Leanne Suter, Darsha Philips, Carlos Granda, Bill Thomas, Eileen Frere and Amy Powell
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The 405 closure ended hours ahead of schedule early Sunday afternoon, resulting in a calm end to what could have been a traffic nightmare.
Caltrans had planned to reopen the 10-mile stretch of the 405 from the 10 to 101 freeways at 5 a.m. Monday, but crews made quick work of taking down the south side of the Mulholland Drive Bridge.
Crews worked around the clock overnight to push ahead of schedule. The freeway closed at midnight Friday.
See a live cam shot of the Mulholland Bridge.
Officials had said they weren't going to open the freeway earlier than scheduled because they had to clean up and make sure the I-405 was safe to reopen.
However, at a Sunday morning press conference, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he expected the freeway to reopen starting as early as 11:30 a.m. A few hours later, traffic was moving smoothly in both directions.
Overnight, workers focused much of their efforts on chipping away at the south side of the Mulholland overpass with huge jackhammers and cutting saws.Related Content
More: Carmageddon - 405 closure home page
Live: Carmageddon - 405 Closure Construction Cam
Officials said about 4,000 pounds of concrete were removed. The debris had been falling onto the 405, but workers laid down a thick layer of dirt to protect the surface of the freeway.
Crews completed the final phase of the demolition when two huge support columns were knocked down.
The California Highway Patrol drove through the reopened stretch, then began escorting the first vehicles through after workers removed cones and road blocks about 11:30 a.m.
"We couldn't have done it without the cooperation of the people of this city," Villaraigosa said. "It looks like they got the message. They actually not only didn't get in their car&they didn't leave their home."
The north side of the Mulholland Bridge will be knocked down next year. Once the entire project is complete, the bridge will become wider and longer.
Traffic moves smoothly on Carmageddon weekend
People thought the Westside would be paralyzed this Carmageddon weekend, but the gridlock never materialized.
"We expected complete chaos from the hype of the radio station and everything, but didn't seem to happen," said David Hilton of West Hollywood. "It was beautiful."
Others appreciated it as well, saying it's been good for the environment.
"It's been lovely. I think we should do it all the time. I think this should encourage people more to walk, use less gas. I think it's a good learning experience for all of us," said Kristen Turner of West Hollywood.
Normally on the weekends, about a half million drivers travel on the 10-mile stretch of the 405 Freeway that was closed. But on Saturday, nearby freeways and surface streets were clear of traffic jams.
"Two thirds of the people who usually drive the freeways of this area were not on the freeways this weekend," Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. "Everybody can live to talk about it."
Some business owners report drop in sales due to Carmageddon
Many Westside store and restaurant owners who took a hit during the I-405 closure say they're happy Carmageddon has ended.
Hamburger Habit owner Frank Pezeshki said business is now back to normal after about a 5 percent drop in business due to Carmageddon.
"It was the major topic of conversation for the past two weeks," he said. "That's all everyone was talking about, especially since this being the ground zero right off the freeway."
His eatery is right next to a 405 onramp in West Los Angeles.
For one car wash in the area, the manager said they got about 20 percent fewer customers during the closure.
Some people who went shopping said they noticed stores weren't crowded as usual.
"A lot less people in the stores, on the streets, everywhere," said Heather Marsh of West Los Angeles. "To me, it looks like everyone left town just because of this Carmageddon."
Get live traffic maps at abc7.com/traffic
Beat Carmageddon with ABC7
The 405 shuts down the weekend of July 16-17, and ABC7 Eyewitness News is your home for the latest traffic news and information. Follow @abc7 and @BeatCarmageddon on Twitter, and use the hash tag #abc7traffic.
ABC7 has also partnered with Waze to help navigate the traffic. Download the Waze app, which provides free turn-by-turn GPS navigation based on the live conditions of the road. Join the community of drivers in Southern California today and beat Carmageddon.
Check out the latest Carmageddon coverage from abc7.com
(Copyright ©2011 KABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
I just planked LA's 405 freeway between Sunset and Wilshire during the last minutes of Carmageddon! Police were roaring up the other side of the freeway, and I just slapped a Vitagasm patch on my arm and went for it. Such an opportunity might not come again for years! Despite the time log on the photo (which says yesterday), this was actually taken at about 11:25am on Sunday, July 17th.
If you don't know what Planking is and my positioning on the freeway seems strange, see this video: youtu.be/tRHnTFesv7c.
Add me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/StephenAlanEstes
Follow me on Twitter @StephenEstes1
And FYI, my mother took this photo! Check out her book: amzn.com/0982382537
