Carmageddon—'The Day is Upon Us'

By the time you read this, Carmageddon would be at least six hours old and a 10-mile stretch of the 405 freeway will have been shut until Monday morning. In the portentous words of our mayor and one-time CD14 councilmember, Antonio Villaraigosa, “the day is upon us.” (See a video to your right of the mayor's Friday evening news conference about the freeway closure. Also watch a hilarious Youtube spoof about Hitler's displeasure on learning about Carmageddon—new subtitles are imposed in the video over a scene from the 2004 film Downfall, but be warned they contain some explicit language.)

Here are five online posts about Carmageddon in Friday’s run up to the 405’s midnight closure:

1. Carmageddon: Tempers flare as 405 Freeway shuts down

2. A surreal site, a ghost 405 freeway, awaits LA

3. 'Carmageddon': LAPD thanks celebrities for Twitter help

4. Carmageddon? Please! Four of the world's worst traffic jams:
Houston (2005)
Beijing (2010)
Moscow (2010)
Sao Paulo (2009)

5. Carmageddon, Shmarmageddon