Carmageddon or Lameageddon? Billion Dollar Project Isn’t Apocalyptic After All
by Reason TVDid you hear about Carmageddon? It turns out the apocalyptic shutdown of the nation’s busiest freeway, the 405, wasn’t apocalyptic at all.
Media hyped the billion dollar construction project for weeks, claiming it could “back up traffic as much as 64 miles,” and politicians blunted told constituents, “Stay the hell away from the 405.” But none of the predictions about a Carmageddon came true.
Instead we found politicians ready to sing the praises of the newly added carpool lane and tear down of the Mulholland Bridge. We also found Angelinos skeptical that the project would actually alleviate traffic.
Written and Produced by Paul Detrick.
About 3:30 minutes.
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39 Comments
If you’re ever in a situation where you have to make a choice and you can’t for the life of you determine which one is the better one, ask a socialist. Then do the exact opposite. You’ll win every single time.
YAWNNNNNNNNNNNNNN typical SOCIALIST Doomsday PROPHECY. Always for the children, seniors, economically disadvantage, culturally relocated poor and ALWAYS and FOREVER BUSH's FAULT!
Traffic was light out here all weekend. It was the same during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Talk of gridlock and traffic backed up; instead, people left town and went on vacation. This weekend, people either got out of town early or stayed home.
I'd like to tell Mayor Wetback that I'm very happy being "wedded" to my single occupancy vehicle as it is excellent ME time to unwind and collect my thoughts for the day. Just love the way these socialists want to impose their beliefs on how we should live as if they know what's best for us.
It is kind of like the Fed. Govt. warning tourists about oil spills on the gulf when they never happened. I can't believe another example of our gov't being incompetent regarding their predictions, ie. debt ceiling, stimulus, global warming and the list goes on.
It is kind of like the Fed. Govt. warning us about the impending doom on refusing to increase the debt ceiling.
Never trust a local broadcast news story with ageddon in the headline.
I had to drive to Hollywood from the valley and was dreading it. Amazingly the freeway was wide open; it was a race track. I could have made it to Hollywood in record time if it wasn't for two jackasses that found a way to crash into each other on a virtually empty freeway. The LA media airheads have a way of blowing everything out of proprtion. If it drizzles we get ***Breaking Alerts*** and Storm Watch 2011. If the construction took place during a weekday then that would be a whole 'nother matter; there would be bloodshed.
Do liberals ever wonder why their dire predictions never come true? Or, do they have some kind of memory loss where their minds get wiped clean and start over after each failed prediction?
"I can't believe another example of our gov't being incompetent regarding their predictions, ie. debt ceiling, stimulus, global warming and the list goes on."
It's not a matter of "prediction." It's a matter of "predilection." That is "an established preference for something." They believe they're "right" without a shred of evidence that they are. The fact is that they are provably WRONG. This is why the best government is LOCAL government. On a national level, the error rate is about 100%.
Hilarious.
Last week California predicted Armageddon pertaining to the 405.
It did not happen.
In other news last week, Barrack Obama predicted Armageddon if the Debt Ceiling was not raised.
Any takers on a bet, that his prediction is false also?
Whenever Government, or those in Government, have dire predictions, they tend not to be true.
Mr. Joe on the Weather Channel is more right than a Government Bureaucrat.
There's simply no better way to gain control of the people than to insist that they're doomed in one way or another. Ask a socialist about it sometime. Or a confirmand of the Rev. Albert Bore-us's Basilica of the Holy Hockey Stick of Fudged Data. Or one of the New Pork City Media Machine's acolytes, who never let a single news cycle slip by without telling you in apocalyptic terms that getting born catastrophically increases your chances of dying some day. Or Emperor Uuhhhbama, Ruler of All the Fools, who keeps telling old people and veterans that they're about to be summarily shoved off the precipice if those nasty, nasty Republicans won't accede to the Terrible Two Year Old in Chief's every command. They'll tell you it works every time.
The surface streets in L.A. are some of the easiest streets to get through in any of the cities I have frequently driven in. The freeways always clog. A carpool lane is a "sweet" idea, but this ain't a pastry shop. Good luck, CA.
I only heard about "carmageddon" on the net. (There's no way in hell I'm watching local news. I'd rather have root canal.) No wonky traffic problems at all. Though, the stretch they closed is way north of here.
love how the media thinks the rest of the continental United States gives a rip about the hell hole that is LA
How stupid does the media think people are?
We aren't lemmings. The media may be surprised that people make rationale decisions.
Car Pool Lane …
Hey, I pay taxes for all the lanes. Why can't I use the fricking lane? And mayor, why don't you take a LA bus to work
OMG!!!!!
A la carte government services were NOT provided to the helpless citizens of LA and no one rioted or collapsed from an acute case of lost benefits anxiety syndrome disorder!!!
Who'd'a friggin' thought?! /sarc off
What kills me is that Odildo and his untermenschen said, "We have to have a deal by Friday or the sky will fall!"
GOP said, "Meh."
And today? Odildo says, "Well, it didn't really have to be done by Friday."
What a bunch of Yerkovs.
As a life-long Angelino I think that the hype actually worked as planned- instead of just randomly making plans the people of this city actually thought it out for once. Considering the selfish idiots we have out here (look no further than our voting record) I don't think you could've made too big of a deal out of it in order to get their attention.
Mayor what?
Y2K???
Y2K Redux???
Maybe he will work from home once the 12 ft compound wall is complete??? Nah, he would not have enough fawning minions.
I knew this was a setup from the beginning, between the LA politicians and the local media. It was reminiscent of the 1984 Olympics, where we were warned about the dire traffic conditions.It turned out to be one of the most peaceful days ever in LA.
The losers were the restaurants and businesses. I heard in a news interview a restaurant on Ventura Blvd. in near the 405 had their Friday night dinners drop to 40% of the usual guests. Thanks a lot
Next time, they should just give plenty of notice on the closure and leave it at that.
Where I'm at the state is busy redoing a lot of the roads and the media is having a field day. Several mobile TV trucks stationed at various locations along the construction projects to report on the traffic tie-ups. Half of the tie-ups are the media stopping cars to ask people if they are frustrated over the traffic delays.
Now granted when there is a project of this scope in my area the detours are usually under construction and detoured as well but the traffic would move so much better over all if the media just stayed away.
My experience with carpool lanes (both as a carpooler and solo commuter) has convinced me that carpool lanes slow down overall traffic. This is because it creates a concentration of lane changes at every exit and entrance ramp as carpoolers move toward or away from the diamond lane. And the lane change from (or to) the diamond lane to (or from) the leftmost regular lane is made much more hazardous by the high speed differential that often exists between the two lanes, resulting in more accidents (and further traffic slowing). Surely traffic engineers have observed this – are they so addicted to the fed transportation money that they can't speak up?
wow and LA people handled this crisis just fine without being told where to drive their cars or when. No central authority telling them what to do. In fact a great deal of this infrastructure could go POOF tomorrow and people would carry on just fine.
Now, if we could just show them, proof positive, that Gorebull warming has as much hype as carmaggedon, maybe we'll be getting somewhere!
The fact that the seas haven't risen and nor has the temperature for the last ten years doesn't seem to be getting through!
Mind you, it could be that these mindless idiots actually believe Zero really did stop the seas from rising and the temps not go up to broil (ignoring the current heat wave that has nothing to do with climate change!).
Of course, there are certainly enough idiots that really do believe Zero has something to do with it!
What if they closed part of an freeway AND there was a tornado warning AND an earthquake AND a Casey Anthony sighting!!!!
Love it,……simply love it,..
come to Chicago so I can buy you a beer.
Public transportation would work if,…..
it were privatized.
Start by legalizing Jitney cabs.
It turned out to be non-Carmaggedon because it was well publicized and folks stayed home or planned accordingly.
Like the '84 Olympics was not a problem because of cooperation from the public and good planning on the part of the city fathers…
It turned out to be non-Carmaggedon because it was well publicized and folks stayed home or planned accordingly.
We're coming home from Vegas today…!
The best way of gaining extra road space in the LA basin would be to drop a top road layer to the LA Riverbed, essentially making it a big sewer/freeway… at least you could get to Long Beach harbor pretty fast.
The new "IN" thing………
"IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT"……
every time we have to do something that we don't like to do……….
IT WORKS FOR THE zer0 0NE.
A MEDIA HOAX…..JUST LIKE WORLDWIDE ECONOMIC MELTDOWN AND THE DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA IS THE DEBT CEILING IS NOT RAISED ON AUG 2.
HO HUM.
If Y2K didn't prove the worthlessness of the MSM, nothing did. Same with politicians. As H.L.Mencken so wisely stated: The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed [and hence clamorous to be led to safety] by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
I've put you on my list.
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