The closure of the Interstate 405 last weekend brought few visitors and left wide-open roadways throughout Malibu.
It was thought the two-day closure of the 405 would cause massive traffic backups throughout the Los Angeles area, particularly along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu as well as on canyon roads, and authorities urged residents to stay home the entire weekend.
However, the dire predictions of what was dubbed “Carmageddon” did not come to fruition, as the public throughout Los Angeles and beyond heeded warnings and either used public transportation or stayed home.
This left the City of Malibu quiet throughout the weekend.
Malibu’s beaches saw even fewer visitors than usual during the weekend of July 16-17, Los Angeles County Lifeguard Capt. Merrill Riley confirmed.
On Saturday, 75,000 people visited local beaches, while Sunday saw 95,800 beachgoers. Compared to an average weekend, 128,000 people visited Malibu’s beaches July 9 and 173,000 beach visitors July 10. During a busy weekend, like this year’s Independence Day weekend, 700,000 visitors may come to local beaches.
“Sunday is usually our busiest day,” Riley said. “[Attendance] was down.”
Additionally, the freeway closure did not alter the traffic flow of Pacific Coast Highway or through local canyons, Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station Traffic Sgt. Philip Brooks confirmed. “[There was] no effect on PCH,” Brooks wrote. “The entire L.A. region had a reduction of traffic by one-third. PCH and the canyon roads experienced lighter than normal traffic.”
Due to the light traffic, few incidents occurred as well. Only two minor traffic collisions occurred on Sunday, while none happened on Saturday. “For comparison, on the previous weekend, July 9th and 10th, there were four collisions each day,” Brooks said.
To avoid the prediction of backups, employees at some local businesses left work early Friday, or stayed home the entire day because of the warnings that traffic problems could occur as early as rush hour on Friday.
The 405 Freeway was closed for 10 miles between the 10 Freeway and the 101 Freeway from Friday evening to Sunday. The closure was supposed to take place for 53 hours, through Monday morning, but workers finished more than 17 hours ahead of schedule. Had they taken more time than allowed, Caltrans would have issued $6,000 fines for each side of the freeway that was closed for every 10 minutes crews worked longer than the allotted 53 hours.
During the closure, crews demolished part of the Mulholland Drive bridge as a part of a $1 billion 405 widening project. The same section will close again in about 11 months so crews can finish the demolition.
While officials are pleased with the results of the closure, some worry that the success of the project may hurt the next closure. Some officials are already speculating about the possible catastrophe that may occur from what has already been called “Carmageddon II.”